Doom co-creator and id Software co-founder John Romero is celebrating the legendary FPS's 32nd birthday with some reflections on its origins, its trajectory from launch, and gratitude for fans who've kept it alive for so long.
"It's DOOM's 32nd birthday today!" Romero wrote on Twitter. "It amazes me how far this rebellion of a game has travelled. We wanted to build the the greatest game we could imagine playing, and generations of players have kept it alive. It's one of the great privileges of my life."
It's borderline impossible at this point to say anything meaningful about Doom that hasn't been repeated ad nauseum for decades, but suffice it to say, there's a reason it's referred to as the "father" of the FPS genre. It's inarguably the most influential FPS of all time, and I'll welcome any excuse for Romero to wax nostalgic.
"Thank you to every fan who's ripped, torn, explored every corner, broken every boundary, modded, speedran, theorycrafted, shared stories, and kept the fires of hell burning. DOOM became a phenomenon because you made it one. I am grateful for every single one of you," Romero added.
Thank you to every fan who’s ripped, torn, explored every corner, broken every boundary, modded, speedran, theorycrafted, shared stories, and kept the fires of hell burning. DOOM became a phenomenon because you made it one. I am grateful for every single one of you. pic.twitter.com/7Lr1PrB6gWDecember 10, 2025
Romero also recently revealed the excellent news that Romero Games, the studio behind his recently canceled FPS, survived the cancelation and is working on a new game which he said "will be new to people, the way that going through Elden Ring was a really new experience." Big words, but who better to back up a claim like that than Romero himself?
Find out which Doom game very nearly topped our list of the best FPS games to play right now.
