Id software plays down impact of layoffs, insists it still has enough staff to make ‘games and tech’
Id is reportedly working on a new Doom entry
Id Software has played down the impact of this week’s layoffs at the studio, claiming that it still has “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for”.
In its first public response since news broke that around 100 workers have lost their jobs, the Doom and Quake developer claimed that its remaining team is “about the same size” as when it shipped Doom 2016.
“Thank you all for the support this week,” it wrote. “While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for.
“The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.”
The statement continues: “We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.”
According to The Verge reporter Tom Warren, Id is now in the early stages of developing a new game, which fits with Xbox’s mandate of focusing on its biggest franchises.
A devastating week for the Doom studio
Id’s public response follows claims from a laid off developer that it had been ‘nuked into the dirt’ and ‘relegated to support studio size’, following this week’s sweeping Xbox layoffs.
Derek Best, a former VFX Artist at Id who has worked on all three modern Doom games, published a lengthy post on LinkedIn saying he was “in shock at how brutal the layoff cuts” were.
“Collectively decades of knowledge was wiped out of the studio,” he claimed. “The VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer. The engine programmer responsible for the massive gains in VFX pipeline improvements (like all the particle editor work) was let go as well.”
He added: “Great job, Microsoft. Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements”.
Responding to the layoffs on Friday, Id Software co-founder John Carmack said he was saddened by the news, but conceded that he was struggling to feel anger without knowing the full details.
“My ‘Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand’ statement isn’t aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month,” he wrote.
