Bethesda extends free Doom demo

Early last week, to coincide with the official kickoff of E3 2016, Bethesda released a free demo of the first level of Doom. The catch was that when E3 ended, so would the demo: As the old saying goes, if you snoozed, well, you wouldn't get to try Doom for free.

Yet when E3 week came to a close, the demo remained. Did someone at Bethesda forget to flip a switch? Not at all. Instead, “due to popular demand,” it's decided to leave the demo up for awhile. For exactly how long, it didn't say, but hopefully it will be something close to “permanently.” That worked out pretty well for the original Doom, after all.

The timing may be a mystery, but the reasoning seems perfectly straightforward. Grab the Doom demo from Steam.

@PixelJanosz @bethesda This was initially for E3 week only. But we figured, what the hell.June 20, 2016

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.