id Software Layoffs Spark Fears Quake Could Ditch idTech for Unreal Engine

Xbox’s sweeping restructuring has landed squarely on id Software, the studio behind Doom and Quake, with employees confirming layoffs on social media just hours after Microsoft’s company-wide job cuts were announced. According to Shacknews, Bloomberg reported that ZeniMax, id Software’s parent company, is facing a “substantial restructuring” as part of the broader cuts affecting Xbox’s gaming division.

The news has reignited concerns among longtime fans that Microsoft could eventually move Quake away from id Software’s proprietary idTech engine and onto Unreal Engine, a shift Shacknews CEO and editor-in-chief Asif Khan argues would betray the franchise’s legacy as a pioneer of first-person shooter technology.

id Software Staff Confirm Cuts After Years on Doom

Shacknews reported that dozens of id Software employees began posting about losing their jobs shortly after Bloomberg’s restructuring report went live, with many noting they had spent years working on the studio’s Doom titles. Journalist Brenna Duffitt was among those who shared posts from affected staff on social media, highlighting how deeply the cuts reached into one of Microsoft’s most decorated development teams.

id Software has long been treated as a crown jewel within Bethesda’s stable of studios, credited with reviving Doom into a critically acclaimed modern franchise across Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, and this year’s Doom: The Dark Ages. The studio’s idTech engine has also underpinned Quake’s identity since the mid-1990s, making any hint of an engine change a sensitive topic for the shooter’s fanbase.

Asha Sharma’s Email Names Quake as a Franchise Priority

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma addressed the cuts directly in a company-wide email, portions of which she shared publicly on X. “We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27,” Sharma wrote in the post.

According to Shacknews, Sharma’s internal message also stressed that “Xbox has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world,” and specifically listed Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake as properties the company intends to keep investing in going forward.

That framing has done little to reassure fans given the scale of departures reported at id Software on the very same day. Khan’s opinion piece for Shacknash argues that naming a franchise as a “priority” means little if the team that built its identity is being hollowed out around it.

Why Unreal Engine 6 Speculation Is Landing With Fans

Khan’s central worry, as laid out in the Shacknews piece, is that Microsoft has already ported at least one beloved Xbox franchise over to Unreal Engine in the past, and nothing would stop it from doing the same with Quake if idTech’s dedicated engineering team is significantly reduced. idTech has historically been maintained by a small, specialised group inside id Software rather than a broad in-house engine division, which makes it particularly vulnerable if that talent pool shrinks.

Quake’s history is deeply tied to engine innovation, from its early 3D-accelerated rendering to the networking code that underpinned competitive Quake III Arena and helped seed modern esports shooter design. Losing that in-house engine pipeline in favour of a licensed, general-purpose tool like Unreal Engine would mark a symbolic break from what has made the series technically distinct for three decades.

Part of a Wider Pattern at Xbox This Year

The id Software cuts arrive amid a year of repeated restructuring announcements across Microsoft’s gaming division, including thousands of job losses and multiple studios being divested or closed entirely. Fans and former employees have increasingly questioned whether Xbox’s stated commitment to “beloved franchises” matches the reality of shrinking the teams that built them.

For Quake specifically, no engine change or new title has been officially confirmed by Microsoft or id Software at this stage. But with idTech’s future now tied to a studio that just lost a significant chunk of its workforce, the question of what technology powers the next Quake game is no longer a hypothetical one for the community to shrug off.

Read also: Xbox Cuts 3,200 Jobs, Half Today in “Most Significant Restructure” Yet