Bethesda reveals that upcoming first-person shooter reboot DOOM is on the receiving end of a strange form of publicity: a branded Indianapolis 500 car.
In spite of a huge number of most-wanted games being released over the course of 2016, it's been hard to miss Bethesda's DOOM reboot of late. The title has been ever-present over recent weeks, and was even on the list of YouTube's top ten highest trending games of April. Now, Bethesda has announced a rather bizarre form of promotion for the title.
According to a recent update from publisher Bethesda, one car at the upcoming Indianapolis 500 will stand out from the crowd, due to its DOOM-themed branding. This car will make its debut on May 14, one day after the DOOM reboot launches, at the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. After that, the special car will take part in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29.
The number 7 car, which is from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, will be driven by Russian racer Mikhail Aleshin. Featuring a red and black paint job and emblazoned with the DOOM logo, the vehicle certainly looks the part. Those interested in seeing more can check out Bethesda's video of the Indy 500 car below, or head on over to the company's YouTube channel.
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"We couldn’t imagine a more perfect sponsorship fit," said Pete Hines, Vice President of PR & Marketing over at Bethesda. "DOOM is all about pushing forward with incredible speed. We’ll all be cheering on Mikhail and the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team as we celebrate the game’s launch."
Somewhat surprisingly, this is far from the only time that a video game has been tied in to real world motor racing. Although previous examples include the likes of Mario Kart 8, which had a partnership with NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth back in 2014, not all games have been focused on racing at all. Indeed, another first-person shooter has even seen cause to partner up with motorsport, as Microsoft and 343 Industries used rival designs based on Master Chief and Spartan Locke to promote Halo 5 in a NASCAR race.
Just what gamers can expect when DOOM sees release remains to be seen, however. So far, there have certainly been some positives regarding the title, particularly with DOOM running at up to 200FPS on the limitless frame rate of the PC version of the game. Hopefully, the Bethesda-published game will live up to at least some of the expectations set - and who knows, maybe it will end up being one of the best shooters of 2016.
DOOM will be released on May 13, 2016, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.