Masters of Doom

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, published in 2003, is David Kushner’s account of id Software and its cultural impact, centered on co-founders John Carmack and John Romero. The book traces the company’s early years, the rise of its hit franchises like *Doom*, and the evolving professional relationship between the two men. It also covers Romero’s dismissal from id, the founding of his studio Ion Storm, and that studio’s eventual failure.

The book received positive reviews upon release. It later inspired Palmer Luckey to launch Oculus VR, and Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman to create Reddit. Two television adaptations have been attempted: a TV movie for Showtime and a pilot episode greenlit by USA Network in 2019 for a potential series.

Kushner, a contributor to *The New York Times*, *Rolling Stone*, and *Wired*, saw the story of Carmack and Romero as “a great story waiting to be told.” For his first book, he spent five years on research, moving to Dallas, Texas to conduct interviews that sometimes ran late into the night. He modeled his writing technique on Tom Wolfe’s *The Right Stuff*, basing every line of dialogue and internal monologue on those interviews.

The narrative covers the childhoods of the “two Johns,” their first meeting at Softdisk in 1989, and the founding of id Software. It details early successes like *Commander Keen* and *Wolfenstein 3D*, followed by the unprecedented success, fame, and notoriety of *Doom*. The book then examines id’s next project, *Quake*, Romero’s departure, and the collapse of Ion Storm. Kushner describes the new gamer culture *Doom* created and its societal impact.

While the games are discussed in detail, Kushner’s main focus is the corporate culture that enabled their creation. He presents Carmack and Romero as the driving forces, but with sharply different personalities. Romero is shown as highly creative and skilled, but losing focus as the games’ success let him adopt a rock star persona. Carmack is an introvert whose unmatched programming skills are central to id’s ability to create sophisticated games, yet he has little interest in social niceties that foster teamwork. Much of the book explores this dynamic: the two initially complement each other, but interpersonal conflicts lead to Romero’s firing.