Cancelled DOOM 4 artwork resurfaces as id Software fights for its future
New concept art, character models, and raw demon animations from the cancelled DOOM 4 surfaced on X on July 12, 2026 — five days after id Software confirmed it had laid off around 136 of its roughly 186 employees. The timing makes the leak feel less like a nostalgic curiosity and more like a postcard from a studio in crisis.
The cancelled game
DOOM 4 started development in 2008 and was quietly killed in 2011. Internal disagreements, money problems, and the eventual departure of id co-founder John Carmack all contributed to its end. The game had drifted far from its roots: producers later confirmed it played more like a cover-based military shooter than a DOOM game — a direction internally dubbed "Call of Doom." When id rebooted the project, it scrapped the Earth setting and cinematic tone, eventually shipping the Mars-set DOOM (2016) to wide acclaim.
The new leak, posted by dataminers Crispies and WadOverdose on X, adds to earlier drops from 2023 and 2025. This round includes environment art, enemy concept designs, and a rough animation of one of the demons. Some assets appear closely related to designs that resurfaced in DOOM (2016) and The Dark Ages, suggesting id salvaged more from the cancelled project than was publicly known.
DOOM 4 Imp Wounded/Shot animations#DOOM4 #DOOM #LostMedia pic.twitter.com/AGfsDfXt7Y
— Crispies (@Runhob) July 13, 2026
A studio under pressure
The art drop landed at the worst possible moment for id. Microsoft's July 2026 restructuring wiped out around 73% of the studio's headcount — confirmed by a Texas WARN notice citing 96 layoffs in Richardson, TX, plus 40 remote positions. The Frankfurt office, which housed key id Tech engine developers, lost six of its twelve staff, per Aftermath. The CWA union, which workers had only recently organized, had no first contract in place when the cuts landed.
Concept art from the cancelled DOOM 4, some of which appears to have been reused in DOOM (2016) and The Dark Ages.
id Software and Microsoft insist the studio is still active and already developing a new DOOM title. The team size, they say, is roughly comparable to what worked on DOOM (2016). Whether the institutional knowledge lost in the cuts — particularly on the id Tech engine side — can be rebuilt remains an open question, per Game Developer.
What it means
For fans, the leaked art is a window into how a very different DOOM almost shipped — and how much of that failed experiment quietly fed the games that actually succeeded. For the people who made those games, the timing is a grim reminder that creative legacies don't protect studios from corporate restructuring.
