Journey into Retail
In the early days id worked with Apogee Software Productions almost exclusively. The strategy with their software products were to distribute them exclusively in the shareware market. Shareware being a concept that the software product is freely distributed on networks and disks or CD’s for users to load and use for no charge, and sharing with their friends or anyone else who wants the product. Once the product has been used the producer requests the user to submit a fee for the ownership of the product, or an offer exists to get the complete version of the software product for the fee. “We felt we had the coolest games around, so with that in mind if you have the coolest games around and have the balls to show them off, put ’em out there. You can’t hide a bad game in a good box on the net.”
When the third chapter of the Commander Keen game was being released, id decided they wanted to enter the retail market with their software products. The company they partnered with to facilitate this was Formgen located in Canada, “A relationship was struck to distribute the game ‘Commander Keen: Aliens ate my Baby-Sitter’ into the retail channel.” At this juncture id had arranged for their product distribution to be handled by Apogee and Formgen giving them a formidable amount of distribution in both retail and shareware. Utilizing strategic partnerships such as these is a valuable asset according to Jay, and allows id to focus on its core competencies while the other important aspects of the functioning of their business can be handled by organizations that specialize in doing so, such as distribution companies. “The price of entry into the retail marketplace is high.” This situation continued for the next several titles from id including the games Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 3-D which were World War II theme versions of the 3-D shooter of a heroic American taking on the best that Nazi Germany had to offer.
The World is DOOMed
id had developed a widespread reputation of being one of the most innovative and coolest computer game shops in the world. Their success with Wolfenstein 3-D is reflected by the millions of copies that were distributed through shareware and the more than 250,000 units of the full game that were sold. “We knew before the product was launched that we had a good product because we are game players. Never, never did we realize the monumental success these games would reach. If you had told us that Wolfenstein 3-D and the various versions there of would be the most installed software of that period, I would have laughed at you.” Buoyed by this success id Software never veered from its course or its formula in creating software products that left their customers begging for more, and eager to know what new realms and nightmares the id crew could come up with.
On December 10, 1993 id released the now famous DOOM computer game. This a full year and a half since the release of the Wolfenstein 3-D title. When looking at the schedule of release the id group kept in offering new games, it is noticeable there is no pattern or fixed time period between releases. This is because the company does not adhere to any strict time frames for when they will release a new game. “We don’t look at things like we want to have a new product out every certain period of time, or we need to look at that sort of thing from a business standpoint. We want to up the level of technology and game play with every game. When we’re done, we want it to be the coolest damn game around, period. If that takes six months, it’s six months. If that takes one year, it’s a year. If it takes two years, it’s two years.”
From a technology standpoint, DOOM presented the newest achievement of innovation from the minds of id and John Carmack when it came to the core technology the game utilizes. id’s adherence to a high level of quality and innovation fuels the developer’s desire to constantly improve on the techniques and technologies they develop, and these improvements are so comprehensive that essentially id starts fresh in developing technology with each new step they take. “On the step from Wolfenstein to DOOM, John Carmack took the technical stuff and from Wolfenstein and started from ground zero to create DOOM. Heretic and Hexen (the medieval sorcery theme games in the 3-D shooter style produced in conjunction with Raven Software) took the game engine from DOOM as far as it could go. The same thing will happen from the DOOM technology to the upcoming Quake technology. In our estimation it’s the best way to achieve true innovation.”
DOOM succeeded in continuing the record setting pace in the gaming industry that id Software had created with all of its product released. As of October 1995 it was estimated that fifteen million copies of the shareware version had been downloaded and more than 150,000 people had registered for the full version through the 800 number registration service. Just a few of the accolades DOOM received for its success include the Game of the Year by PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World magazines, and an award for Technical Excellence from PC Magazine.
id had matured during its early years of existence and was taking on more tasks for the promotion and distribution of the game than they had originally done with their earlier titles. The evolution of this started with the Wolfenstein 3-D title when Wilbur formally joined id as the official biz guy. Jay described one of his primary goals as to cut out as many middle men in the distribution channel as possible. id accomplish setting up their own mail order system and arranged an 800 number order processing service. This resulted in the end of the relationship with Apogee so id could move forward and grow towards being their own full-fledged publisher. “It was time for us to move on. As for the shareware distribution it’s not that hard. You upload the shareware version to many sites and it takes on a life of its own as it spider webs across the globe. We lease our own call centers and fulfillment centers.” id has also “stepped up” with their retail distribution partner by teaming up with GT Interactive and no longer working with Formgen.
DOOM II: Hell on Earth which was the sequel to DOOM was released on October 10, 1994 which was nicknamed “DOOMSDAY” by the eager public and retail market. This release was one of the most anticipated software game releases of all time. In fact second only to Mortal Kombat which was released by Acclaim, DOOM II was the fastest selling computer game ever. The game was distributed in retail by GT Interactive in the United States, and by Virgin Games in Great Britain. Over half a million copies were released to retail on that day, and more than 1.2 million copies have been sold as of October 1995.
Competition and Copyrights
The people at id Software not only consider themselves computer game developers, but avid computer game fans. In the same manner that they decide the acceptability and content of the products they create, they also feel they are fair judges of the competitor products that exist that have largely stemmed from their innovations. “We do pay attention to the marketplace and what they are doing. We like a good game as much as anyone else likes a good game. We develop good games primarily because we want to play them. But when a good game comes along we don’t ignore it, we embrace it. We play it, we enjoy it, we complement those who made it. When a bad game comes out we pooh-pooh it.”
When referring to id’s technology innovations and its influence by competitors, he states that going forward with their new technology innovation is driven by, “We want to do the coolest thing ever. We don’t look at it from the competitor perspective or wanting to stay ahead of the industry perspective. We have done it this way and have been able to stay ahead of the industry. I think we will remain ahead of the industry partly due to the talent pool and party due to the philosophy differences between the way they work and the way other companies work. We don’t look at things like ‘We have to beat them.’ We look at things like we have to have the coolest games around.”
Another facet to competitor products that challenge the marketplace of the id products are the scores of illegal products and add-ons to the id games that have spread throughout the gaming community. Most prevalent with the DOOM family of games, id created its product to allow computer users to create their own levels and adventures within the framework of the DOOM world. Tools were published through id that gives computer gamers the power to create an infinite number of levels, challenges, and scenarios in a relatively easy fashion. What this has led to are people commercializing these software add-ons and illegally selling their work with the actual logos and artwork from id to falsely represent authentic id products. “Dealing with copyright infringements and copycat products has been complete hell. If you walk into any warehouse place or second tier retail operation, the add-on disks at these places have the DOOM logo and characters on the labels! I can’t count the number of infringements I’ve had to deal with.” Obviously the problem is so large id can only control the more blatant and large scale infringements, “To find these I scan the major catalogs or people send me stuff and we take immediate and decisive action. We don’t let things slip buy, we react immediately.”