It sounds crazy, but the last time gamers were excited about a new Doom release was back when Halo 2 hit the original Xbox. Doom 3, in all its (somewhat misguided) glory, was released back in August 2004 - ten years after Doom II hit the PC. Then, save for a single expansion and a few HD re-releases, the franchise that helped create the first-person shooter genre went back into hibernation - and not many gaming series can survive more than a decade without a single release.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Doom made its public debut at E3 2015 and caught everyone off-guard. After more than ten years, Doom would finally make its return...the only real problem was that no one knew when that return would happen. Bethesda promised a 2016 release, but other than that, there was no telling when the game would actually hit store shelves.
However, if a recent Amazon France listing is to be believed, the return of Doom isn't all that far off. While the supposed launch day has since been removed from the page, the online retailer had Bethesda's return to Mars, demons, giant shotguns and chainsaws pegged for a June 30, 2016 release date.
While the idea of a new Doom game hitting in the middle of summer vacation is great, it's important to take this supposed release date with a grain of salt. Simply put, there are a couple of different reasons why a June 30 release date sounds more like a placeholder than anything.
Retailers use placeholder release dates all of the time in order to open up pre-orders before a game's official launch day has been announced. 99% of the time, the public doesn't seem the placeholders - either way, they're not real. If the supposed launch date is only showing up on a foreign subsidiary of a major online retailer, it's probably a placeholder. On top of that, June 30 also marks the end of the Q2 financial quarter - which would make it a perfect placeholder if Bethesda is planning to release the game anywhere between April and June (something they've hinted at in the past).
Even so, fans shouldn't give up hope just yet: Amazon has a noted history of accidentally leaking release dates, and a good number of those leaks have come from the French website. On top of that, June 30 is a Thursday, which is when games launch in France. Considering that games launch on Tuesdays here in the U.S., that means the game could coming our way on June 28.
Long story short, there are plenty of reasons why Doom could be set for launch in June...there are also plenty of reasons why that probably won't happen.
As with all leaks, nothing is official until Bethesda comes forward and makes a statement. Usually, leaks are easy to disprove, and publishers don't have to make such statements...unfortunately, that's not the case with Doom's release date. So, unless someone at Id Software wants to come forward and say something, it looks like fans will be stuck in release date limbo for the time being.
One way or the other, Doom is set for release sometime later this year.
