GameStop Sold Doom Eternal A Day Early Due To "Social Distancing" Concerns

Doom Eternal is scheduled to officially launch on Friday, March 20, but retailer GameStop will start selling it early. The company has confirmed it will begin selling the new id Software shooter today, March 19, in an effort to keep customers and employees safe amid social distancing protocols. [Update: GameStop has also declared its intention to keep its stores open, claiming it's an "essential" business due to some of the products it sells. It's also outlined more measures it's taking to keep customers and employees safe, although it has faced criticism for not simply closing its doors.]

This is all happening because Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are both officially releasing on March 20. These are two of the biggest games of spring, and GameStop is expecting a lot of foot traffic of shoppers coming in to grab one or both of the games. The CDC is recommending against gatherings of 50 or more people, and this would seemingly impact GameStop on big launch days like March 20.

To help separate the crowds, GameStop has chosen to sell Doom Eternal a day early. New Horizons will go on sale as scheduled on March 20. This kind of move is seemingly unprecedented for the retailer, and it's unclear if Bethesda will allow other game sellers to follow suit.

Doom Eternal scored an 8/10 in GameSpot's review in progress, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons also picked up an 8/10 in our review in progress.

There has been some silly crossover fan art for Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the developers of each game have commented on the silly situation.