Xbox boss announces Wolfenstein 3 and confirms new game in development at idSoftware despite reported job cut "bloodbath"

Xbox boss Asha Sharma has confirmed Wolfenstein 3 is in development at MachineGames, the Swedish studio behind the acclaimed Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossal, and 2024's celebrated Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Additionally, she revealed Doom developer idSoftware - one of the Microsoft-owned studios heavily impacted by sweeping Xbox job cuts earlier this year - is now working on a new game.

Sharma has, of course, been on a bit of a PR offensive of late, positioning herself alongside snippets of positive news at a time Xbox is embroiled in a massive business "reset" effort that has resulted in proposed studio closures and mass layoffs that will ultimately see 3,200 Xbox employees lose their jobs. This week's Wolfenstein 3 reveal similarly arrived in the form of a tweet posted directly from her social media account.

"Wolfenstein 3 is officially in production at MachineGames," Sharma wrote on X. "One of gaming's most important franchises, and a team that has done remarkable work bringing it forward. Looking forward to sharing more." As for idSoftware's new project, confirmation of that - again attributed directly to Sharma - appeared in a post on Bethesda's website. "Slaughter Mode comes to Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations on Monday," she wrote, "and the team is already working on its next game."

In July, sweeping job cuts at Xbox resulted in 96 of idSoftware's 136 employees being laid off in a move one former team member described as a "bloodbath". Since then, idSoftware co-studio director Marty Stratton has attempted to downplay the cuts, recently insisting the studio was "doing great". He added id was "working more closely than ever" with MachineGames - a studio which appears to have escaped Sharma's restructuring efforts so far.

This week's Wolfenstein and idSoftware news follows similar efforts by Xbox to reassure fans their favourite franchises are unaffected by the recent layoffs. Shortly after substantial job cuts at Bethesda were confirmed, the company moved to insist The Elder Scrolls 6 was still "on the way" and that its plans were "unaffected" (the company has since released a trailer announcing its subtitle). It also confirmed a new Fallout game was in development.

Xbox's year of bad news - which includes ongoing boycott efforts relating to Microsoft's controversial involvement with the Israeli military - comes as the division celebrates its 25th anniversary. Earlier this week, Sharma shared a memo to staff marking the occasion, albeit one in which she seemingly championed a gen-AI future for games development, enthusing that, "A small team will be able to build worlds that today demand hundreds of developers".