Microsoft Judgment Day

Overview

Judgment Day was a combination Halloween party, game developer convention, informal press conference, and entertainment event for the public at large organized by Microsoft and held on October 30, 1995 - also called "Devil's Night". Primarily organized by then-Microsoft employee and principal architect of DirectX, Alex St. John, the event brought together 35 game developers, including id Software, who were given centre stage for the event via inclusion of the finals for Deathmatch '95, a previously organized and officially sponsored DWANGO multiplayer tournament for Doom and Doom II. Doom95 would play a pivotal role in the event as a part of Microsoft's continuing strategy to promote Windows 95's potential as a gaming platform. The event also served as the official release party for Raven Software's last Doom engine game, Hexen: Beyond Heretic.