Microsoft says id Software is fine — but DOOM's studio just lost 136 people

By: Anton Kratiuk | today, 12:09

Microsoft cut 136 workers from id Software — the studio behind DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein — as part of a broader Xbox restructuring that has already eliminated 3,200 jobs across the division. The layoffs landed on the same day the DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC shipped, a timing that made the cuts land especially hard. Now Microsoft and id are pushing back against reports that the studio is effectively gutted.

The damage

The numbers are confirmed: a WARN notice filed in Texas lists 96 employees at id's headquarters plus 40 remote workers. That takes the studio from roughly 185 people down to around 50. Early reports, per Kotaku, claimed almost no one with hands-on id Tech engine experience remained — a claim that sparked immediate panic among fans of the franchise.

Microsoft disputed the most alarming version of that story. Xbox insider Jez Corden at Windows Central confirmed the id Tech engine is not being shelved: enough staff at id Software still know it, and MachineGames — the Swedish studio behind the recent Wolfenstein games — also has engineers fluent in id Tech. Corden added that Microsoft has no current plans to force any of its studios to migrate to Unreal Engine, which has otherwise become a default choice across much of the industry.

id Software responds

id Software posted a community statement thanking fans for their support and asking them not to catastrophize. The studio's position: the team today is roughly the same size it was when it made DOOM (2016) — a game that launched a franchise revival. That's the official benchmark being offered as reassurance.

What John Carmack thinks

id Software co-founder John Carmack — who left the studio years ago — weighed in with characteristic bluntness. He said games have to make money to survive; being beloved isn't enough on its own. His read on id Software: it was not a profitable business for Xbox. He's unhappy about what happened but says Microsoft had no real alternative.

Bethesda has since confirmed it will focus on five core franchises going forward: Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein. Whether a studio of 50 people can carry three of those five is the question nobody has answered yet.