Bethesda trademark offers Doom hint, as suggestion of an imminent reveal swirls

A trademark for what looks to be a new Doom game has resurfaced after originally being filed by Bethesda back in January, as the suggestion of a reveal in a few weeks' time now swirls.

The pending trademark, filed in the US, is titled "IDKFA" - a well-known cheat code used in the Doom series.

This isn't the first we've heard of a new Doom game being in development. A project referred to as "Doom: Year Zero" was named in a release schedule accidentally shared by Microsoft last year, in documents pertaining to its Activision Blizzard FTC court case. (That document also mentioned Ghostwire: Tokyo and Dishonored sequels, which sadly seem likely to no longer be happening.)

Last week, The Verge's chatty Tom Warren repeatedly implied that Microsoft had a Doom announcement ready to go as part of next month's June showcase event - to help in "lifting the DOOM around Xbox". Eurogamer has heard similar.

Who could be making the game? Well, the obvious answer is of course Doom creator id Software, which last launched an entry in the series in the shape of 2020's Doom Eternal. The studio has only released one project since - the free-to-play PC shooter Quake Champions.

Bethesda's other remaining studios are of course all busy, meanwhile, with Arkane Lyon building Marvel's Blade, MachineGames on Indiana Jones, ZeniMax Online on Elder Scrolls Online and Bethesda Game Studios early in development on The Elder Scrolls 6 while continuing to work on Starfield.

Xbox faces a tough time next month as it mounts the company's annual summer showcase event, just weeks after the news it was cutting yet more jobs and closing both Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks and Redfall maker Arkane Austin, among other Bethesda offices. For more on the business side of why Microsoft is shuttering studios, it's worth reading our article on why Xbox believes it must close developers.