Classic Doom releases require an online account, leading to some good goofs

Today at QuakeCon, Bethesda tried to surprise fans with something nice: a re-release of the first three Doom games on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It sounds great, but there is a small catch: To play the classic Doom games, fans have to log into a Bethesda.net account.

Players will only need to log into Doom and Doom 2 once and then they can play offline. For Doom 3, they’ll need to log in to a Bethesda.net account “to access certain features and/or content.”

The Bethesda.net login an unexpected requirement, given that the Doom trilogy is an offline experience. Doom and Doom 2, which date back to 1993 and 1994, respectively, have multiplayer, but it’s all local. Doom 3 is listed as a single-player experience on digital storefronts, like the Nintendo Switch eShop and PlayStation Store.

As a result, fans are voicing their frustration on Twitter by making the login message into a meme.

Regardless of how petty it may be, the memes are hilarious and highlight the absurdity of needing an online account to play these classic games. Personally, I just like the idea of needing a Bestheda.net account to play Super Mario World. Scroll on to see all the creative screen caps fans have made.

Polygon reached out to Bethesda for comment on whether or not the login screen affects all new versions of the Doom trilogy and we will update this article when we hear back.

Update (July 30): Since this story was published, Bethesda announced that the login requirement will be taken out of the game. Bethesda told Polygon, “The Bethesda.net login requirement was included for the Slayers Club, to reward members for playing the classic DOOM games. The login should be optional, and we are working on changing the requirement to optional now. We will update everyone when a fix is ready.”