'Doom: The Dark Ages' will be released on May 15, 2025.
Prediction markets forecast a mid-80s score for the upcoming Doom prequel as fans await the Doom Slayer's origin story.
Doom is one of the most well-known first-person shooter video games. Dedicated fans who still blast through the earliest Doom games can now transform their video game expertise into potential profits through prediction markets. Prediction market platforms like Kalshi allow fans to trade on their favorite video game predictions, including Doom.
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The original Doom game was released in 1993 and is widely considered one of the first important first-person shooter video games. Initially, first-person shooter games were referred to as “Doom clones” before the current name took over after a few years.
Doom is frequently featured on lists of the greatest video games of all time. It was a paradigm shift in the kind of games being created, but it also changed the public's perception of video games. Doom and first-person shooters became synonymous with what non-gamers felt video games were.
Now, over thirty years later, the franchise has expanded to include seven games, books, movies, board games, and more. The eighth video game, Doom: The Dark Ages, is set to be released worldwide on May 15, 2025.
This is the third game in the modern series, launched in 2016 with the release of a modern remake of Doom. Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to the 2016 game and acts as an origin story for the protagonist, the Doom Slayer.
Doom's long history means reviewers don't just judge the new game on its own merits - they compare it to every Doom adventure that came before it, which naturally shapes their final verdict.
With the arrival of the newest Doom game, there is plenty of anticipation built around the game’s critical reception, specifically its Metacritic score. And on Kalshi, you can try to predict the game’s score. But how does Kalshi work?
Kalshi is a prediction market platform where traders can attempt to predict the outcome of an event. For those who live in the United States, Kalshi is only available to you. It is CFTC-regulated, and trading on this market is legal in the U.S., unlike other popular prediction market platforms like Polymarket.
If we look at Mario Kart, there was a Kalshi market on which characters would be playable in the game. If Captain Falcon was predicted at 35% and you believed the chances were higher, then you can buy “yes” shares for 35 cents.
The more shares you buy, the higher the percentage becomes. On the other hand, if you think 35% is too high, you can buy “no” shares for 65 cents and lower the forecasted percentage. The specific best practices differ depending on the market.
The Doom: The Dark Ages prediction market for its Metacritic score was created on Apr. 30, 2025. The market launched at a forecasted score of 86 and has lowered slightly to 84.3.
The market will be resolved based on the Metacritic score on May 22, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET. To better understand how well this game may perform, we should look at how past Doom games have been received.
The last two games in the modern Doom series both got 87, along with the last Doom game in the original series. It suggests that a mid-high 80s score is a reasonable prediction for Doom: The Dark Ages.
Besides past critical reception, we can also look at what the early reactions to the game are so far. Several major publications were given an early hands-on preview of the game.
IGN’s Tristan Ogilvie praised the variety in his two-hour preview, along with the new shield combat. CNET’s David Lumb played a four-hour demo and said Doom: The Dark Ages delivers “the brutal feel of fighting through a Doom game with entirely new systems, weapons and mechanics as medieval as its theme.”
For the first time in Doom... venture into the Cosmic Realm
New Doom: The Dark Ages gameplay reveals Lovecraftian setting and deadly Cosmic Baron: https://t.co/xLFD58FUOD pic.twitter.com/irF2rEFHu1
There is plenty of fan excitement online, but some express concern that the new game systems could alienate longtime players. Early hands-on previews have been largely positive, suggesting a strong Metacritic score is likely. However, the medieval setting and new gameplay mechanics could either elevate the series or potentially backfire with critics and fans.
If you’d like to trade on Doom: The Dark Ages, you can trade on the Kalshi market here.
