Doom Dev Says There's "No Benefit" To Being Owned By Xbox

With studios being gutted and projects being canceled to prioritize flailing IP, it’s hardly surprising that the sentiment among those at Xbox right now—and those who have been let go—is bitter resentment. Not only do you have a former Obsidian Entertainment dev calling Xbox a “cancer,” but a current id Software employee who survived the cull speaking out through the media.

“They didn’t even wait to see if the product is successful before they got rid of the team,” the anonymous dev told Game Developer, speaking of the new Doom DLC that launched just one day after the layoffs. “There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft. In fact, they have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don’t even think that they’re aware of.”

Doom co-creator John Carmack likewise said that his statement on Microsoft being a good steward of the brand "isn't aging well."

id Software is now the same size that it was when developing Doom (2016), despite Bethesda claiming just last year that The Dark Ages was “the biggest launch” in the studio’s history. A milestone that was celebrated with sweeping cuts that former principal VFX artist Derek Best described as “nuking a team into the dirt.”

"Nothing Says Business Success Like Nuking A Team Into The Dirt"

The main character of Doom The Dark Ages wearing armour and standing in a hellish setting.

In all likelihood, launching Doom: The Dark Ages day and date on Xbox Game Pass ate into its sales, as Bethesda claimed that the game had reached three million players seven times faster than Eternal did. The phrasing is typical of a Game Pass hit—players reached, not sales. And this was no doubt a decision made completely outside of id’s control, for which it has now been punished.

“It feels like we put a good product out and it just has zero effect on your longevity in the industry,” an unnamed source told Game Developer.

Paradoxically, Xbox named Doom and Quake as two of the core franchises it wants to focus on going forward, despite laying off a reported 136 developers at the studio. The same studio that launched three games within ten years, all of which were critically acclaimed blockbuster hits.

However, despite the massive cuts to id Software, it was reported over the weekend that early development had begun on a new Doom game, though it’s hard to imagine there being much excitement for the project in the aftermath of the widespread Xbox layoffs and the immense pressure to succeed under new leadership.