Doom studio id Software responds to Xbox layoffs reports

Microsoft's brutal cuts won't stop id from making games

id Software was one of the studios hit hard by Microsoft's devastating layoffs and cutbacks across Xbox this week, but the developer behind Doom and Quake said Friday it will continue on, making games and developing its world-famous tech. The Texas-based studio issued a statement in response to reports that id had been slashed in half, and that “most (if not all) coders” at the company had been cut.

The studio, which just released the new Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages this week, said it will keep building the games that it's been known for these past four decades.

"While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams," a statement from id posted on X reads. "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."

According to id Software's credits on Doom (2016) listed on Mobygames, about 125 game designers, artists, programmers, and producers worked on the game, with more than 30 employees credited in quality assurance, support, and administrative roles. The Doom reboot was developed with support from other studios, including MachineGames, BattleCry Studios, Tango Gameworks, Escalation Studios, and Certain Affinity.

"We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted," id's statement continues. "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."

After unconfirmed reports that id suffered decimating cutbacks, an official number of how many employees were affected was revealed on Tuesday. A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Notice (WARN) confirmed that 136 employees (including 40 remote workers) were being laid off from id Software-owner ZeniMax Media's offices in Richardson, Texas, where id is based. Those cuts were said to heavily impact the team that develops id Tech, the studio's proprietary game engine, though a Microsoft spokesperson disputed that, saying, "There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations."

On Monday, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 3,200 people in its Xbox division over the next year. Studios like Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks were heavily impacted, and Microsoft plans to divest from four other studios: Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs. The company is also in negotiations with Dishonored and Blade developer Arkane Studios on the fate of the developer.