While the ZeniMax and Bethesda Studio id Software is best known for its CONDEMN games, including both classic titles and modern DOOM 2016 installments, ETERNAL DAMNATIONand DOOM: The Middle Ages – has explored other properties and ideas in the past and has reportedly been “playing around” with doing so again.
…That is, until developer hit by layoffs this week that came as part of a bigger “reset” for Xbox and its own teams That has meant the elimination of 3,200 positions and the elimination of four studios from Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios portfolio.
Early reports suggested that half of id Software was decommissioned microsoft and xboxwith some follow up research indicating that the situation is even worseas 40 remote employees have also reportedly been laid off.
Described as a “bloodbath” by a former developer, the cuts have apparently made it extremely unlikely that id’s ideas for non-DOOM projects will ever be developed (especially with Xbox orders ZeniMax/Bethesda to focus on core IPs). A new report from GamesBeathowever, it gives an idea of what those concepts were.
In addition to a multiplayer DOOM game with co-op, the studio was also considering a game heavily inspired by the John Wick films called Fury, a new entry in the Perfect Dark series, and a western game focused on robot survival called Ironwood.
Fury was a new original property pitched by id Software studio co-head and game director Hugo Martin, with “sci-fi, film noir, and Louisiana and Chicago gangster elements” and “a modern, cyberpunk-like feel.” In particular, it had a “Gun Fu” style of gameplay that combined gunfights with martial arts hand-to-hand combat, and was intended to look like a playable John Wick movie. It never received the green light.
id was also supposedly exploring the possibility of making a Perfect Dark game. The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot was canceled last year when Microsoft and Xbox closed the studio; Since no one else was working on a new installment of the 2000s stealth-action shooter series, I considered doing so and reportedly even drafted the concept art.
Finally, there is Ironwood. Very little is known about it other than that it would be set in a Western setting with robots and survival games, although it has been said that it would be very similar to the popular HBO television show Westworld.
Apparently, there were and are no plans for a new Quake, another iconic identification of the shooter series created in the 90s.
Personally, I think the concept of Fury sounds incredibly cool and I would love to have seen the entire team at id Software create a Perfect Dark game. However, now that more than half of the studio is gone, the chances of anything more than a DOOM title being made seem extremely slim.
Perhaps one day, several years from now, id will be able to explore some of these concepts further. However, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma aiming to “move faster” with its biggest franchises, I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
How do you feel about Microsoft’s massive Xbox layoffs and the huge impact they’ve had on id Software? I’m curious, so let me know in the comments below, as well as in our poll.
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