We still think the PC is a market worth supporting, but we're not making decision around the PC. It's probably more of the junior partner in the cross-platform strategy, although obviously, our day-to-day development is predominately on the PC."

As a developer that is primarily focused on packaged product, id may have reason be wary of the PC market. Many triple-A first-person shooters have found substantially bigger audiences on consoles than PCs in recent years. But id is venturing beyond packaged products with Quake Live, a free web client version of Quake III Arena.

In spite of the business reasons that have driven id towards consoles, Carmack still has an affinity for the PC, and still expects the biggest id titles to make it to the platform. "We certainly expect Rage and the Doom project on the PC," he said. "We’re contractually obligated to have Rage on the PC, and I would be stunned if we did not do Doom 4 for the PC. It would just be wrong. Even if it was a marginal business case, we would still do it because it’s the right thing to do."