Classic Doom Ports No Longer Require Bethesda Net Login to Play

Fans of the original Doom games got a surprise this year at QuakeCon, when Bethesda and id Software announced a re-release of the first three Dooms for consoles, including the Nintendo Switch. But they quickly hit a wall when some of these games required a Bethesda.net login. After promising a fix, Bethesda has now released a patch taking care of the login page.

After excitedly downloading the retro re-releases of Doom, we were surprised to run into a Bethesda.net login, as were many other players. As Bethesda would later explain, the logins were intended to be optional for Slayers Club members to get rewards, but at the time they were a mandatory login, at least once, to play the old-school demon slayer. Yesterday, Bethesda released the patch to fix that all up.

The publisher also says it is working on a more permanent fix to "further reduce the visibility of the optional login," though it has no estimated release window for that update.

It's a good fix for players who want to take their Doom to-go on the Nintendo Switch. I've only sunk a small amount of time in the re-launch of the original 1993 Doom, but it's cool to have this option available for my next road trip. Plus, it's a surprisingly good port, which is nice given the hit-and-miss history of Doom ports. At least now you can comfortably take your Doom on the road, without fear of needing a Wi-Fi hotspot to keep the action going.