Bobby Prince, the video game composer who scored Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, died at age 81. His family confirmed his death on June 16, 2026. No cause was disclosed.
Prince's work on Doom, Doom II, Rise of the Triad, and Duke Nukem 3D established video game music as an art form. He influenced generations of players and composers.
Prince died just one month after the Library of Congress announced his Doom soundtrack would be preserved in the National Recording Registry. Institutional recognition of this kind is rare for video game scores.
id Software, the studio behind Doom, posted on social media: "Rest in peace to the video game music pioneer Bobby Prince. Your music lives on forever."
Prince drew inspiration for the Doom soundtrack from CDs loaned by game designer John Romero — music by Alice in Chains, Pantera, and Metallica. Working within the technical constraints of 1993 sound card drivers, he crafted music that matched the game's intensity.
Before his work in gaming, Prince was a practicing lawyer with an interest in MIDI technology. That background positioned him to develop video game music when the industry was young.
In 2005, the video game industry gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award. His work demonstrated that video game music deserves recognition in broader culture.
