Bethesda Slashes Price of DOOM DLC Only Weeks After Release

DLC for DOOM: The Dark Ages dropped earlier this month. Spoiler alert: it's pretty fun, even if it has its fair share of issues.

In our review, we said that "in terms of raw gameplay, it may be the franchise at its absolute best." However, it's becoming more and more clear that maybe it's time for a fresh new perspective on DOOM after the trilogy of games, which began with 2016's DOOM, has now been completed.

This is a sentiment that's shared across the board; DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations has a Top Critic average of 88 on Open Critic, with 96% of critics recommending it. Combined with its staggering 100 Player Rating, and you'd figure that it would be a commercial hit, right?

Well, about that.

DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations is 50% Off on the PlayStation Store

As part of the Summer Sale on the PlayStation Store, you can pick up several recently released games at affordable discounts. Palworld, for example, is 30% off. Resident Evil Requiem is 20% off.

The deals also include several games from Bethesda, such as Starfield for 20% off, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered for 30% off, and the base version of DOOM: The Dark Ages at a staggering 67% off.

Oh, and you can pick up the Revelations DLC for 50% off as well, just weeks after its release.

This seems like a decision that bucks the trend of recently released games not going on sale. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, for example, is still listed at its full price of $59.99. The same is true for Pragmata, and it's not like Capcom is ignoring the same; Requiem, as mentioned earlier, is discounted (and arguably the better game).

It begs the question: why exactly is a highly lauded DLC that was already $20 to begin with so heavily discounted this close to release?

Is DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations Underperforming?

Whenever we deal with a first-party XBOX game and its track record at retail, we need to address the elephant in the room: Game Pass.

If you're playing it on XBOX Series X|S or PC, there's a good chance that you're playing it through your Game Pass subscription. Of course, we're in the wake of mass cancellations following its price hike earlier this year, but we've seen examples of XBOX games performing well on other platforms when they're well received (Forza Horizon 6).

On paper, the same can be said for DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations, which did see a player bump following its release on Steam. However, the general consensus around the current state of XBOX is pretty cold following the mass layoffs, which included DOOM developer id Software.

There's also the recent track record of XBOX games not performing well on PlayStation 5, something that plagued our time with Halo: Campaign Evolved. Given everything working against it, I can see why the DLC is already on sale for 50% off. Then again, we just saw the example of people more than willing to pay for great XBOX games without Game Pass.

I'm surprised, again given the overwhelmingly positive reception Revelations has received, that we're so quick on the trigger to put it on sale. Then again, I'm not sure what's really going on over at XBOX HQ.