Doom creator John Romero is a big fan of Xbox Game Pass

Doom creator John Romero is a big fan of Xbox Game Pass

Id Software co-founder and designer of the original Doom, John Romero, thinks Xbox Game Pass is "really great" for players and developers.

Tom West

Published 29 Jan 2025

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Id Software co-founder and Doom creator John Romero loves Xbox Game Pass, calling it a "really great way" for players to try different games. With so many games launching on Xbox, not just upcoming Game Pass games, Romero thinks the service offers great "visibility and discovery" for games in an increasingly saturated market.

Id Software co-founder John Romero loves Xbox Game Pass

• John Romero is a big fan of Xbox Game Pass
• He is a former co-founder of id Software and credited with coining the term "deathmatch"
• John Romero designed the first two Doom games, as well as Wolfenstein, Quake, and Hexen

During a recent interview with Xbox Expansion Pass, John Romero said he is a fan of Xbox Game Pass' "try before you buy" approach, allowing you to dive into a game and then spend money on expansions and DLC if you like what the base game has to offer.

For the uninitiated, Romero co-founded id Software, designing Doom, Doom 2, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, and Hexen.

"I love it. I mean, who doesn't love Game Pass? It's Netflix for games; who doesn't want that? It's great because it's try before you buy. You try something, install it, if you like it dive in and go buy the expansions, go get the rest of it," Romero said. "It's a really great way to just try stuff, one thing after another thing. Really the barrier for people to play games is just access to those games. Even free-to-play games, it's like, knowing that those games exist, and Game Pass is like 'Here they are!'

"Every month, it's all these new games; it's really great to just have that visibility and discovery right there, and you can just try stuff. It's like 'Oh, I've heard about this thing, let me just install this and see what it's like,'" he adds. "It doesn't hurt the game companies that made those games, because they would've uninstalled it even if it took them longer to get it. They just get to see your game faster, or to choose another one if they don't choose your game."

We also love Game Pass, especially with such an awesome line-up of first-party Game Pass titles arriving soon. Just in this first half of 2025, we have Avowed dropping in February, followed by South of Midnight in April, and then Doom: The Dark Ages in May.

There are also so many brilliant third-party games joining the service in the coming months, with Sniper Elite: Resistance arriving tomorrow (check out Sean's awesome Sniper Elite: Resistance review for all the good stuff), Atomfall in March, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in April. It really is a great time to be a Game Pass subscriber.

If you're excited about id Software's upcoming game, take a look at our Doom: The Dark Ages hands-off preview for plenty of juicy details. As for Romero's comments, do you agree with the legendary designer? Drop a comment below and let us know!
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Written by Tom West
Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.