id Software: Studio Still Has “Crew We Need” Despite Xbox Layoffs
id Software has broken its silence on this week’s Xbox layoffs, telling fans on social media that the DOOM studio still has “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for” even after losing roughly half its workforce. A WARN Notice filed in Texas and obtained by Game Developer confirms that ZeniMax Media, id’s parent company under Xbox, cut 158 jobs in the state — 96 of them at id Software’s Richardson, Texas headquarters.
The studio’s statement, posted days after the initial wave of cuts, sought to reassure players rattled by reports that idTech — the engine behind Doom, Wolfenstein and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — could be left without enough staff to maintain it. “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 post reads, according to PC Gamer.
136 Jobs Lost, QA Department Hit Hardest
Before id’s statement went public, Game Developer reported that around 50 percent of employees at the Texas-based studio have been laid off, with one source claiming the total exceeded 90 redundancies. A separate tipster told the outlet that the studio’s QA department has been decimated by the cuts, while a departing staffer’s public LinkedIn post described the exercise as “another ‘reorganization’ of assets.”
Insider Gaming corroborated the headline figure, noting that the legendary studio has seen at least 136 employees let go, with reports suggesting that many were part of the id tech team. The subsequent WARN filing gave the cuts an official paper trail: alongside the 96 id Software roles in Richardson, Game Developer reported 146 of the 158 Texas workers being laid off are represented by labor union Communications Workers of America, with the remainder coming from Bethesda Game Studios’ Austin office.
Cuts Reach id’s Frankfurt Office Too
The reassurance statement didn’t stop the bleeding entirely. Aftermath reported that on the same day id posted its message, layoffs also hit the studio’s smaller Frankfurt outpost, where current and former id Software employees said six of twelve id workers were let go, in line with what happened to the rest of id earlier that week. That office had already been modest in scale, with Aftermath noting id’s Frankfurt operation was small, comprising a dozen employees across multiple departments like art and programming, with the majority working on id’s engine team.
The Frankfurt cuts fuelled scepticism among some ex-staff about whether id’s public messaging matched the reality on the ground, even as the studio insisted its production capacity remained intact.
Carmack and Romero React as Union Demands Bargaining
id co-founder John Carmack, who left the studio in 2013, weighed in on the cuts with characteristic candour. According to VGChartz, Carmack said “I’m saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective. I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios.” Fellow co-founder John Romero also posted, reflecting that “I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history.”
Labor tensions are also boiling over. Engadget reported that id Software’s staff are organised with the Communications Workers of America, and that CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said Microsoft “slow-walked union members at the bargaining table,” preventing them from accessing the protections of a union contract. The union’s District 2-13 vice president, Mike Davis, added that the CWA would push for “immediate bargaining” over “fair severance” among other things.
Part of a Wider 3,200-Job Xbox Reset
id’s losses are one slice of a much larger restructuring across Microsoft’s gaming division. Game Developer reported that the id cuts landed just hours after Xbox confirmed it would be eliminating 3,200 roles across its video game division over the next fiscal year—starting with 1,600 cuts this week. Sibling studio Bethesda Game Studios is also being reshaped, with an internal email obtained by IGN and cited by Game Developer showing Bethesda president Jill Braff explaining the company is shifting from a planning model primarily centered on what’s next for each independent studio to one that focuses on its strongest franchises and the content roadmap that best serves players and Bethesda as a whole. A source told the outlet that going forward, Bethesda will now be laser focused on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake, and intends to make it easier for its development teams to collaborate, though it will not be shuttering any existing studios.
id’s statement also pointed forward rather than dwelling on the cuts, noting the team was focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted, and going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August. That timeline lines up with the studio’s recent output — id shipped a new expansion for its latest shooter just days before the layoffs hit, underscoring how quickly the cuts followed a period of heavy crunch for the remaining team.
Read also: id Software: Studio Still Has “Crew We Need” Despite Xbox Layoffs
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