Doom 4 art and screenshots leaked amidst cancellation rumors

Back in October of last year, rumor had it that following RAGE’s underwhelming launch, Doom 4 had been “indefinitely postponed” by id Software’s parent company, ZeniMax Media (which also owns Bethesda Softworks). The rumor was promptly debunked, although the absence of any Doom-related announcements would later cast doubt on the game’s development.

Now, it’s happening again – according to a poster on 4chan, who stated “DOOM 4 cancelled, more at 11″, before offloading over 150 unidentified art and graphical assets, such as model renders and in-game screenshots. Certain images depict devastated cityscapes with blazing futuristic skyscrapers and hellish portals on the horizon, while others depict various human characters. While the images fit within the Doom universe (interestingly, one in-game model render also shows a Windows XP taskbar with “Doom4” and “idTech 5” programs open), none of these assets depict any sort of demon or any kind of satanic imagery.

You can find all 170 images over at All Games Beta, including their initial post on the subject. Meanwhile, Bethesda’s Pete Hines told Joystiq that: “DOOM 4 isn’t cancelled. When we’re ready to talk about it and show it off, we’ll let everyone know“. In addition, Bethesda did not comment on the supposed leaked assets, so the jury’s still out on that front. Whether or not Doom 4 is alive and well – I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.