Id Software Loses Over 70 Percent of Staff in Recent Layoffs Amid Xbox Restructuring

Recent restructuring under Xbox has led to extensive layoffs at id Software, affecting more than 70 percent of the studio's workforce. Documents filed with Texas authorities indicate that id Software lost a total of 136 people, consisting of 96 office employees and 40 remote workers. According to the Communications Workers of America, the studio employed 185 people at the end of last year.

Many of the affected employees were working on the development of the id Tech engine, including two lead programmers and a technical director. Earlier, 3D Realms co-founder Scott Miller reported that nearly the entire id Tech team had been laid off. Even so, sources close to Xbox indicate that the corporation does not intend to abandon id Tech, and the engine remains part of the future for Microsoft's gaming division.

Former and current id Software employees expressed shock at the scale of the layoffs, which occurred while the studio was brainstorming ideas for new games. The team had considered developing the next installment in the Perfect Dark universe, an original game in the spirit of John Wick under the codename Fury, a Western with robots and survival elements under the codename Ironwood, and a new multiplayer or cooperative DOOM. Ultimately, the Fury project was shelved, leaving the future status of the other conceptual games unclear.

According to GamesBeat, a primary issue for the studio was convoluted communication with Microsoft regarding corporate priorities, such as whether to focus on high game sales, attracting players to Game Pass, or technology development. Interviewees noted that if revenue goals were known to be the main focus, DOOM: The Dark Ages might have included multiplayer, since the game did not generate sufficient revenue when a large portion of the audience played through Game Pass. Furthermore, the studio's workforce may shrink further as the fate of employees in Germany is decided under local labor laws.