Bethesda Clarifies Confusion After GameStop’s Cancelled Pre-Orders
Fans holding out for the Nintendo Switch release of Doom Eternal have had quite the wait. For starters, the latest entry in the longstanding Doom franchise was originally supposed to be released last year on November 22nd–however, a month before the expected release, developer ID Software announced that the game would be delayed to March 20, 2020, with the Switch version being set to release “later”. What exactly “later” means, we still do not know as the game hasn’t received a confirmed release date for the Nintendo console, while PC, PS4, and Xbox One users have had the game in their hand for 8 months now.
Confusion over the Nintendo Switch version of the game reached an all time high this week as GameStop started calling customers to cancel their pre orders. At this time, there hadn’t been any confirmation of a cancellation of the switch version of the game by Bethesda, but rumors began to circulate. Fans began to think that the game had been cancelled and it just hadn’t been announced yet, or that GameStop made an error in removing the SKU for the game from their system. Bethesda eventually spoke on the subject, replying to a twitter user that they haven’t announced any cancellation for the game.
We have not made any announcements on Doom Eternal being cancelled for Switch.
— Bethesda Support (@BethesdaSupport) November 19, 2020
Of course, the statement specifically says they haven’t announced a cancellation, but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t cancelled.
Well, worry no more Switch fans, the game isn’t cancelled. A Bethesda rep confirmed in an interview with IGN this morning that the Switch version of the game isn’t cancelled but will now be a digital-only release.
In a statement to IGN, a Bethesda spokesperson says,
“While Doom Eternal is 100% on track for an imminent digital-only release on Nintendo Switch, the absence of a physical release at retail resulted in cancelled pre-orders.”
They added, “Affected customers will receive full refunds and should contact their preferred retailer for more information.”
While they never made an announcement on an expected release date, the rep did use the word “imminent” to describe the digital-only release, so it seems fans can likely expect the game to hit the eShop pretty soon.
You can check out our review of Doom Eternal right here.