Of all the layoffs that occurred among Xbox Game Studios developers this week as part of The 3,200 “reset” cuts from Microsoft and Xbox and four disinvestments in studies, which affected the CONDEMN Developer id Software were the most shocking to many given the popularity and success of their modern trilogy of games.
It has been reported that more than half of id was removed from Xboxwith 136 developers (96 at its Texas headquarters and an additional 40 remote workers) leaving the studio. The cuts affected nearly every department at the developer, including the teams that create, maintain and improve its id Tech game engine used for a variety of ZeniMax projects.
Individual DOOM developers have shared reactions to the layoffsalthough id Software had not yet shared a response until today. Now it has done so, with the publication of the study. a statement to the community on social media to calm fears about his future under microsoft and xbox.
“Thank you for all the support this week. While our studio was affected, those changes were spread across the teams. We still have the team we need to create the games and technology we are known for,” the letter from id reads. “The current team is about the same size as we were when we made DOOM (2016). We’ve always had a flat studio where everyone is a creator, and we will continue to stay true to that philosophy going forward.”
“We are focused on supporting each other and impacted team members. We will continue to build the great games and technology that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we look forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August,” he added.
In particular, this statement confirms our recent and previous report that in the wake of the layoffs, id Software is now roughly the size it was when it released the 2016 DOOM reboot ten years ago, and that the studio is in no danger of closing or separating from Microsoft and Xbox.
It also confirms that the developer will continue to move forward with new games. It seems unlikely that he will have the opportunity to explore some of his experimental ideas.. Still, I hope we see additional DOOM titles from the team and that he continues to iterate on id Tech for the benefit of Wolfenstein dev MachineGames and other studios.
Ultimately, it’s quite relieving to hear this news from id Software; although, to be clear, I’m not downplaying the severity of the cuts by saying that. On the contrary, I’m glad that the developer still has a future under the wing of Xbox. although how significantly it was affected by the layoffs.
Layoffs at id represent a large portion of roughly 440 total cuts across ZeniMax and Bethesdawith other equipment hit including Bethesda Game Studios (The ancient scrolls, radioactive dust, star field) and ZeniMax Online Studios (The Elder Scrolls online).
Bethesda developers fear that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer crises and delays due to layoffs and staff reduction at ZeniMax Online Studios has led to “changing” roadmaps for The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda’s official union, OneBGS, plans to protest cuts next week with a “Save our developers” march.
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