Last night, news started making the rounds that legendary game composer Bobby Prince had passed away at the age of 81. Known for his incredible work on Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad, and numerous other classic early ’90s PC games, Prince was a frequent collaborator of Apogee and id Software, helping shape the soundscape of various games that could become iconic overnight.
Before this work with games, Prince, whose legal name was Robert Caskin Prince III, served as a first lieutenant platoon leader in the Vietnam War. Following his service, Prince he would study law and pass his BAR exam in 1980. This knowledge would be instrumental in his music career as Prince understood how to modify certain riffs and tunes to skirt copyright law.
In an interview with Quarter Circles in 2020, Prince would explain how he approached writing Doom’s groundbreaking soundtrack. “Tom Hall wrote the Doom Bible as an early guide to what Doom might/would become,” Prince said. “I took his descriptions and tried to create music that fit those descriptions. While not everything in the Doom Bible turned out, it certainly inspired what became the final version.”
Just last month, the Library of Congress had inducted the Doom soundtrack into its National Recording Registry, preserving it for generations to come. Explaining how Prince became fascinated by MIDI technology in the ’80s, it mentions that he took direct inspiration from CDs loaned to him by Doom co-creator John Romero. As the LOC writes, “The ‘Doom’ soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers.”
Tributes from former colleagues have been pouring in since the news broke. Duke Nukem co-creator George Broussard wrote a rather poignant tribute to his friend, which sums up the man’s work better than I can. “Bobby defined a generation of music for early shareware games and he was recognized for his work. His impact is eternal and he’s been a legend for 3 decades. His work lives on and he will be greatly missed.”
RIP Bobby Prince. He was 81 years old and passed on Tuesday.
I received a DM from Joe Siegler last night with a link to Bobby's obituary (it is linked here): https://t.co/SaBDXOM6ui
Bobby was the epitome of a southern gentleman. Residing in Tennessee he had a smooth southern… pic.twitter.com/lOH9Duv5yJ
— George Broussard (@georgebsocial) June 19, 2026
Leave a Comment
Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
