Bobby Prince

United States · Born 1945 · Composer & Sound Designer

A Vietnam veteran and qualified lawyer who answered a forum post from Apogee's Scott Miller and went on to score Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Duke Nukem 3D — the sound of the early first-person shooter.

Robert "Bobby" Prince was born on 12 March 1945 in Madison, Indiana. His route into games was unusual. He served as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War in 1969–1970, earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in counselling from the University of Georgia, and later took a law degree, passing the bar in 1980. Music ran alongside all of it, and he began working in games after responding to a forum post by Apogee founder Scott Miller, starting with the Commander Keen series. That connection put him at the centre of id Software's rise. Prince composed the music for Wolfenstein 3D (1992), Doom (1993) and Doom II (1994), and he designed sound effects as well as music. For Doom he drew openly on heavy metal — bands such as Alice in Chains, Pantera and Metallica — writing MIDI tracks that sounded abrasive and driving even through the FM synthesis of an ordinary PC sound card. He also contributed music to 3D Realms' Duke Nukem 3D (1996). Prince also negotiated the rights to his work carefully, which brought him payments when his game audio was later used in feature films. The Game Audio Network Guild gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, and his final credited score was for the shooter Wrack (2014). In May 2026 his Doom soundtrack was inducted into the U.S. National Recording Registry. He died on 16 June 2026, aged 81.