Xbox yesterday revealed that it will lay off over 3,200 staff members, with 1,600 of those layoffs happening this week. Aside from the five studios that are departing fully, Xbox is laying off staff from several studios without shutting those studios down entirely. One such studio is id Software, the venerable studio behind franchises like Doom and Quake.
According to reports, id Software lost over 90 in this purge, including many who worked on the studio’s proprietary software, idTech. This constitutes about half of the staff who worked there. These impacts come at the same time as the studio releases the Revelations DLC for its latest game, Doom: The Dark Ages. For reference, the studio has around 180 employees at present.
Other reported targets of the layoffs include the primary developer behind Quake Champions and several staff members working on the upcoming QuakeCon event. Scott Miller, founder of 3D Realms and id collaborator Apogee Software, claimed that “most (if not all) coders” had been laid off from id Software.
Id Software co-founder John Romero publicly commiserated with the studio’s staff, saying in a social media post: “I’m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs. 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… I’m thinking of everyone at id today, and everyone else affected by yesterday’s layoffs. Romero Games was there a year ago. I know how devastating it is, and my heart’s with all of you.”
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