8Bit/Digi

This article has been updated to include the overall sale of the item. Please scroll to the bottom to read the updated information.

Those interested in owning a piece of gaming history will be interested to know that John Romero is auctioning his copy of Castle Wolfenstein.

The game is an original floppy disk copy that was released for the Apple II back in 1982. Even though this is the first game in the iconic series, it’s not the iconic shooter that Romero (along with John Carmack) developed. That game was released in 1991 and was developed by id software. This entry was an early example of stealth action and would help set the foundation for the genre.

Romero is selling his copy via eBay as part of a charity auction to help support the FPS museum. That starting bid was $10 and the highest bid has been $375 USD as of 10:00pm (PST). The announcement was made via Twitter:

John Romero is a pioneer in the gaming world having co-founded id Software in the 90’s alongside John Carmack and Tom Hall. His gaming credits include work on Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake just to name a few while also coining the multiplayer term “deathmatch”.

In 2015; he established Romero Games Ltd., an independent game studio located in Galway, Ireland. Their first title, Gunman Taco Truck was released in January 2017 and it was highly praised by critics along with gamers. Their next game, Empire of Sin, is set to be released sometime in late 2020.

UPDATE: The auction ended on May 25th and the game was sole for $1,025.00 USD. This is not unusual for big ticket items belonging the Romero. His floppy disk copy of Doom II sold for $3,150 USD while his copy of the iD Anthology sold for $1,130 USD.

8Bit/Digi is an independent media outlet that provides an insight into the video game community and industry of the San Francisco Bay Area.