Doom Producer Blames Xbox And Other Large Publishers For Gaming's Problems

It's a tumultuous time for gaming. After years of unprecedented growth during the pandemic, the economics are beginning to stagnate while the cost of producing games continues to rise.

The constant barrage of mass layoffs we've seen over the last couple of years is a direct result of corporate mismanagement; a combination of overspending and short-sighted decision-making is wiping out swathes of the industry.

According to id Software producer Andrew Willis, large publishers and monopolies are squarely to blame for the problems the gaming industry currently faces (nice spot, PC Gamer).

Monopoly Woes

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

"I think the only way to fix the video game industry at this point is for developer-owned studios to start rising from these studio closures and layoffs," he writes. "We've got to learn from the past, be fiscally responsible, and create an environment of sustainable growth (though growth should be a byproduct of success, not a goal in and of itself). It's the only path forward I can see, and these large publishers and monopolies have proven themselves terrible stewards and somehow even worse financial managers. If the people who create the value own the value, good things will follow."

That almost sounds like workers seizing the means of production? Gasp, what a novel concept. The exploitation of labour is nothing new in any industry, but the recent layoffs of people who have been working at studios for decades are indicative of how bad things have become in gaming; just how undervalued developers have become in the ecosystem.

"The games industry must change if it's going to create art and franchises that have long-term sustainable value — right now, it feels like the monopolies that control it are simply trying to extract as much goodwill and value (that took decades to build) as they can with little concern for the diminishing returns it's leading to," Willis writes in a separate post.

id Software—a studio founded in 1991 and responsible for the legendary Doom series—had over 75 per cent of its staff laid off by Xbox. This is an active destruction of gaming history for a business that Microsoft ultimately doesn't care about.

"This is what happens when the people who control it (mostly Ivy League MBAs) do not play games, have never shipped a game, and fundamentally do not understand the industry they manage. You'll never get another [World of Warcraft] or Morrowind in the current climate," the post finishes.

I wholeheartedly agree with Willis' assessment of gaming's immediate future unless something changes. Corporate mismanagement has sunk many projects, studios and people, and something has to give.