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Bobby Princethe renowned video game composer who scored titles like “Doom” and “Wolfenstein 3D,” has died at the age of 81.
Prince’s family confirmed the composer’s death. She shared that he “passed peacefully through the musical gates of heaven on June 16, 2026.” A cause of death was not given.
“His groundbreaking work shaped an entire era of gaming and influenced generations of gamers around the world,” Prince’s family wrote in an obituary on Legacy.com. “Through his compositions and sound design for groundbreaking titles such as Doom, Doom II, Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D, Bobby helped establish video game music as a recognized art form. In 2005, the video game industry honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.”
id Software mourns
id Software, the company behind the “Doom” and “Wolfenstein” series, wrote on social media: “Rest in peace to the video game music pioneer Bobby Prince. Your music lives on forever.”
Prince’s death comes a month after the Library of Congress announced it would preserve his “Doom” score in the National Recording Registry. This is a rare distinction for a video game soundtrack.
“The video game “Doom” brought heavy metal energy to MS-DOS systems around the world and simultaneously launched the first-person shooter genre that remains popular today. “Crucial to “Doom’s” success was the adrenaline-pumping soundtrack by freelance video game composer Bobby Prince,” the Library of Congress wrote in May.
Inspiration from metal greats
“Prince, a lifelong musician and practicing lawyer, was fascinated by MIDI technology, which came into prominence in the mid-1980s as a means of instrument control and composition, an interest that led him to his first work as a video game composer. For Doom, Prince was inspired by a stack of CDs loaned to him by John Romero, the game’s lead designer. These included groundbreaking works by Alice in Chains, Pantera and Metallica. Despite the limitations of 1993’s sound card drivers, Prince composed the perfect, riff-driven accompaniment for the game’s demon-slaying journey into hell.”
Prince, who graduated from law school and worked as a lawyer before entering the video game industry, also scored the MS-DOS version of the influential first-person shooter “Wolfenstein 3D,” the “Doom” sequel “Doom II,” and the cult favorites “Duke Nukem II” and “Duke Nukem 3D.” Although most of his work appeared in games from the 1990s, he returned as a composer in 2014 and set Wreck to music.
The Library of Congress wrote of Prince: “Prince even used his MIDI knowledge to ensure that the sound effects he created could penetrate the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The Doom soundtrack would inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers.”
Family memories
Prince’s family added: “While he will be remembered by many around the world for the music and sound that shaped a generation of gaming, those who knew and loved him personally will be remembered by something even greater: a man of talent, integrity, humility, faith, humor and love, whose greatest joy was sharing his wit and wisdom with family and friends.”