id Software

id Software was officially founded on February 1, 1991, in Mesquite, Texas, by John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack and Tom Hall after their shared experience at Softdisk. Before the id name, the group had worked as Ideas from the Deep and had already proved something that seemed almost impossible on PCs of the time: smooth console-style scrolling. That technical breakthrough led to Commander Keen, released as shareware by Apogee in 1990, a game that showed the IBM-compatible PC could become a fast, colourful gaming machine, not only an office tool. The creation of id Software was the natural result of that success.

The studio’s first phase was shaped by a culture almost opposite to that of large publishers: a small team, code at the center, shareware distribution, a direct relationship with players and an impressive development speed. Catacomb 3-D anticipated some first-person ideas, but Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, established a new grammar: corridors, weapons in the foreground, enemies faced head-on, secrets and constant rhythm. It was not yet the full language of the modern first-person shooter, but the direction was already clear. John Carmack built increasingly advanced graphics engines, Romero pushed rhythm and level design, Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud gave the games their visual identity, while Tom Hall contributed worldbuilding and narrative ideas before leaving the studio.

The real rupture came in 1993 with Doom. Initially distributed as shareware, Doom turned the PC into an aggressive, social and technical gaming platform. It was not only a shooter: it was local networking, modding, WAD files, deathmatch, metal-influenced music, demonic science fiction and a community that began changing the game from within. Doom imposed an aesthetic, but also a cultural infrastructure: user-created levels, licensed engines, online discussion and an idea of PC gaming as open, expandable and almost hackable. In many ways, a huge part of 1990s PC culture passes through it.

With Quake, released in 1996, id made another leap. The game pushed the genre into fuller 3D, with polygonal models, truly three-dimensional spaces, a stronger movement toward online play and a competitive scene that would keep growing. QuakeWorld, LAN parties, mods and later Quake II and Quake III Arena strengthened id as a studio not only of games, but of technology. The id Tech engines were licensed to many other developers and influenced productions such as Half-Life, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty and several Raven Software titles. At the same time, internal personalities became harder to keep together: Romero left id in 1996, Tom Hall had already gone, and the studio became increasingly identified with John Carmack’s technical leadership.

During the 2000s, id entered a more complicated phase. Doom 3, released in 2004, took a more horror-driven, technological and atmospheric path, impressive for its lighting and shadows but different from the arcade energy of the original Doom. Quake 4 was developed by Raven, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars by Splash Damage, while Rage, released in 2011, showed open-world and technical ambition that was not always matched by an equally strong identity. In 2009 id Software was acquired by ZeniMax Media, becoming part of the Bethesda group. In 2021, when Microsoft completed its acquisition of ZeniMax, id became part of the Xbox organization.

The modern rebirth came with Doom in 2016 and Doom Eternal in 2020, which recovered speed, aggression, movement and systemic brutality, turning Doom into an almost rhythmic action game built around resources, mobility and constant combat. id Software’s legacy is enormous: Commander Keen proved that the PC could move like a console, Wolfenstein 3D opened the way, Doom changed gaming culture, and Quake brought 3D and online competition into a new era. Few studios have had such a deep impact on the relationship between technology, design, community and video game imagination.