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Update []:
DOOM maker id Software has rebutted claims it’s being scaled down to “support studio” size.
In a statement, it said that its team remains “about the same size” as when it made DOOM 2016.
The studio hired around 200 people in 2016, according to various keynotes at the time. According to government documents, 136 jobs were lost at the Texas-based studio this week.
Here’s its statement in full:
“Thank you all for the support this week.
While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.
We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.”
Original Story: A big theme of the Xbox layoffs this week has been just how hard they’ve hit several teams – and remember, this is just the first phase, with a further 1,600 job losses to come.
By not closing any studios, Microsoft has broadly navigated the “bloodbath” somewhat unscathed, but I think a deeper story that’s emerging is how many of these remaining studios intend to function with so few staff.
For example, id Software has lost 136 developers this week, and in a big behind-the-scenes article by Gamesbeat, one former staffer said they’re “not convinced there’s a viable path forward” for the studio.
Adding to that, ex-VFX artist Derek Best fumed: “Great job, Microsoft. Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements.”
According to reports, id Software had been plotting several new projects following the completion of DOOM: The Dark Ages’ DLC, including a John Wick-style gun-fu game and a Perfect Dark project. It’s unclear whether it’ll have the resources to work on either now.
Crucially, it sounds like the studio feels misled by Microsoft’s ever-changing mandates; it made DOOM: The Dark Ages as a single player title, although its day one sales were gobbled up by Xbox Game Pass. There’s a feeling it maybe should have added multiplayer or live service elements to keep revenue flowing in the wake of the lost full-price sales.
It’s worth noting that the FPS was available on PS5 and PC day one as well, so there were opportunities to sell the title at full-price, to be fair.
The Gamesbeat article implies that axed staffers would have preferred id Software to be sold or spun-off like other first-party studios Double Fine and Compulsion Games, as opposed to being gutted like this. It seems it didn’t expect the layoffs to hit this hard.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Microsoft reassigns many of these teams.
Reports earlier today revealed Obsidian has been assigned Fallout, and it does feel like many of these remaining teams could be repurposed as support studios moving forward.