The Dark Ages Fans Are Cancelling Their Pre-Orders Due To Massive Install

Summary

Doom: The Dark Ages’ physical copy requires what is essentially a full download to install the game, making the disc pretty much useless.
Unsurprisingly, people now learning this that wanted to buy the physical to own the game physically are cancelling their pre-orders in droves.
A lot of people are now either skipping the game entirely, or waiting until a sale in the future. Hey, it’s not like we don’t have anything to play right now.

Doom: The Dark Ages has become the latest game for enjoyers of physical media to rally against. In case you missed it, fans managed to get their hands on physical copies of Doom: The Dark Ages a few days early, only to find out that the game requires a download to actually work properly. In fact, the vast majority of the game isn’t even on the disc, with some reports claiming it’s just a few MB.

That makes the Doom: The Dark Ages disk a glorified download key, and essentially a useless piece of plastic in the eyes of many. Unsurprisingly, those that wanted to buy the physical version of Doom: The Dark Ages to physically own it aren’t too keen on the idea of a giant mandatory download, and a “huge” number of potential buyers are now cancelling their pre-orders and collector’s editions.

Doom: The Dark Ages Fans Are Cancelling Their Pre-Orders Due To Massive Install

In a new tweet shared by Twitter account Does It Play, which is primarily focused on game preservation, it’s claimed that a significant number of people have been canceling their pre-orders over this fiasco, or skipping the game entirely. They also add that they’re aware social media outrage over physical games can seem massive if you’re in the bubble, but that the outrage this time is “disproportionate”.

If You’re Excited About Finding Secrets In Doom: The Dark Ages, I’ve Got Some Bad News

Id Software’s latest shooter is sadly lacking in challenging secrets to find.

You only have to look in the replies to this post to see what they’re talking about too. A user called TheRoseCompany claims to have “cancelled my collectors over this”, while another user called ThePatriotWolf cancelled their pre-order because there’s “no point” in owning it anymore.

Other people explain how they’ve gone from being excited about Doom: The Dark Ages, to just grabbing it down the line when it’s cheaper, unwilling to pay full price for the digital version of the game or a disc that is essentially a coaster.

A lot of people are also demanding that The Coalition doesn’t go down the same path with Gears of War: Reloaded, which will bring the series to PlayStation for the first time ever. We’re still a bit in the dark about news on that game’s physical, with the latest update being that it might be skipping Xbox entirely. Seems like dodgy physical releases from Xbox might be the standard nowadays.