Xbox Laid Off Someone Who Had Been With id Software Since The Romero And Carmack Days
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The impact of Xbox's latest round of layoffs is still being realised, as teams are expected to dust themselves off and get back to work. However, for id Software, that is going to be particularly difficult, as it's been reported that it lost up to 75 percent of its workforce.
Now, a new report from Game Developer sheds some more light on how layoffs impacted id Software. One of the most shocking details is that the studio has now lost what must have been one of its last veterans, with a Doom dev who was there alongside John Carmack and John Romero included in the layoffs.
id Software Loses A Veteran From The 1990s In Xbox's Layoffs
In the Game Developer report, this anonymous employee is referred to as "employee number 13", and described as "one of the longest-serving workers at the studio". As per another anonymous former employee speaking with the publication, they are now out of a job.
Not only that, but those speaking with the publication back up fears that the proprietary id Tech engine is no more.
"They've just gotten rid of all the people who could ever fix, maintain, or change [id Tech], so it's most likely going to end up in the trash can," say an anonymous former employee. "That's where I just come back to: It completely feels like success is detached from your ability to keep a job, and I think that's basically provable."
A statement shared on id Software's social media attempted to put those fears to bed. It argued that the team is now roughly the same size as it was when it made Doom (2016), and that the team was looking forward to making "great games and tech".
The new report contests this. One source says that the "majority" of those who just worked on the Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages have been laid off, so it's clear that the studio cannot continue as it was. This is despite the DLC reviewing well and the base game reaching millions of players; as the one source says, it doesn't even seem that success can save you from Xbox's layoffs.
It remains to be seen what happens with id Software going forward. A further 1,600 layoffs are coming across Xbox later this year, but it's hard to imagine how they can take away any more workers from id Software and still expect it to make games.
- Date Founded
- February 1, 1991
- Parent Company
- Zenimax Media
- Headquarters
- Shreveport, Louisiana, United States
- Known For
- DOOM
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