Doom (1993 video game)
Because id planned to self-publish the game, as the game neared completion they had to set up the systems to sell the game. Jay Wilbur, who had been brought on as CEO and sole member of the business team, planned the marketing and distribution of "Doom". He felt that the mainstream press was uninterested in the game, and as id would make the most money off of copies they sold directly to customers—up to 85 percent of the planned US$40 price—he decided to leverage the shareware market as much as possible, buying only a single ad in any gaming magazine. Instead, he reached out directly to software retailers, offering them copies of the first "Doom" episode for free, allowing them to charge any price for it, in order to spur customer interest in buying the full game directly from id.
Doom (1993 video game)
"Doom" was influential and dozens of new first-person shooter titles appeared following "Doom" release, and they were often referred to as ""Doom" clones" rather than "first-person shooters". The term ""Doom" clone" was used to describe the style of gameplay in "Doom"-like games. While the term was initially popular, it was, after 1996, gradually replaced by "first-person shooter", and the phrase "first-person shooter" had firmly superseded ""Doom" clone" around 1998. Some of these were certainly "clones", hastily assembled and quickly forgotten, while others explored new grounds of the genre and were highly acclaimed. Many of the games closely imitated features in "Doom" such as the selection of weapons and cheat codes. "Doom" principal rivals were Apogee's "Rise of the Triad" and Looking Glass Studios' "System Shock". The popularity of "Star Wars"-themed WADs is rumored to have been the factor that prompted LucasArts to create their first-person shooter "Dark Forces".