Bethesda held the 30th annual QuakeCon event last weekend in Dallas, Texas. The event celebrates the work of id Software, in particular its cult classic game, Quake, and has been a destination event for gamers for decades. This year, there was a certain sense of disquiet before the event, for id Software has been diminished by recent Microsoft-instigated layoffs and uncertainty about the company’s future.
QuakeCon itself celebrated its namesake game with a few special announcements: MachineGames, the developers of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, has collaborated with id on a new episode for the Quake called Dawn of the Machine. This will feature a 19-map campaign and a new soundtrack. Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor also announced a new collection of Quake merch made in partnership with the band.
Walking around QuakeCon, you’d never know that the company at its heart has faced so many recent struggles. The attitude is, at worst, slightly subdued on the floor at the main LAN party event, but that seemed to be because almost everyone was concentrating on playing and/or creating content. For the most part, everyone seemed genial and happy to be present.
There was also a great deal of nostalgia around the event that’s not always present in other gaming events. One corner of the event was a recreation of the id Software offices with a museum-style display of notes and memorabilia from the scrappy 90s era of the studio.
For QuakeCon’s 30th, the event organizers even reunited all four founders of id Software for a three hour-long walk down memory lane: John Romero, John Carmack, Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack (ironically, Hall left the studio before development on Quake even began). They also reunited all four men with Donna Jackson, the office manager and “id mom” who worked with them in the 90s.
Also, this is largely unrelated to the event as a whole, but I wanted to shout-out Dallas Pets Alive. Not only did they command the most restful area of the event, a large side room with dogs and cats available for petting, but they kept that area frosty in temperature. This might not seem important, but anyone who’s been in Texas in August knows a room like that is a life-saver.
id Software’s troubles before QuakeCon
It’s been almost a month since Xbox announced the first wave of layoffs at its various studios. Around 1,600 people lost their jobs, with the promise of 1,600 more to be laid off in the future. Needless to say, the aftershocks from the event continue, as the Communication Workers of America have filed a charge of unfair labor practices against Microsoft with the National Labor Relations Board.
Id Software was one of the studios affected by these layoffs, with the studio reportedly losing 95 members of staff across various departments. Members of staff told GamesBeat they were confused as to why their studio was targeted for such a thorough purge considering its pedigree and recent successful game launches.
As part of the response to the layoffs, unionized employees affected by the layoffs marched outside multiple studio offices. One such march was outside the id Software offices in Richardson, Texas. A month before QuakeCon, I attended the rally and spoke with several of those present, which included former id Software employees, staff from other Bethesda-led departments such as user-testing, and members of the Communication Workers of America.
One common feeling between all of the people with whom I spoke was being blindsided by the scope of the layoffs. Andrew Willis, former producer at id Software told GamesBeat, “It came as a complete shock and surprise to everyone — both given the timing (we were about to release our Revelations DLC) and the quantity. My worst case was maybe 20 people. I had no idea it was going to be 95 and some incredibly critical people.”
Another common theme when I spoke with employees was the abruptness of the news. Many were told they no longer had jobs in group calls that lasted less than a minute, and given next-to-no time to say their goodbyes in company group chats before they were locked out.
Alex Doblado, VP of CWA Local 6215, told GamesBeat, “The communication was very poor. There was no notification to us that I was aware of… we found out when the workers did.” He added that the majority of those laid off, according to facts ascertained by the union itself, were union members in the upper scale of wages.
Johns Carmack and Romero responded to the layoffs on social media, with the former saying in a statement that he suspected that “id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective” and added that this was “certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month.”