After Doom director Hugo Martin denied reports that id Software had been gutted, "current and former employees" are disagreeing with his optimism - Eurogamer.net

What the report says

Eurogamer reports that internal disagreement has followed public comments from Hugo Martin, director of the recent Doom games, about the impact of Microsoft’s latest Xbox layoffs on id Software. Microsoft announced 3,200 job cuts two weeks ago, and early reports suggested the Doom and Quake studio had been heavily reduced. Martin pushed back in a livestream against the idea that id had effectively become a support studio.

Eurogamer’s article cites reporting by Game Developer, whose senior editor Chris Kerr said multiple anonymous current and former id Software sources disputed Martin’s optimism. According to that report, roughly two thirds of the remaining id staff who had worked on Doom (2016) were laid off at the start of the month, including people described as important to the veteran team.

The anonymous sources also objected to Martin’s framing, saying some laid-off developers felt their role in the studio’s successful games had been minimized. They pointed to the troubled development history before Doom (2016), including the cancelled Doom 4, and said some people who worked extreme hours to help rebuild the franchise were among those cut. Another source argued that comparisons to earlier studio size were misleading because id had previously experienced major turnover around 2010-2011.

The significance is that id Software is one of Xbox’s best-known first-person shooter studios, and the extent of the cuts could affect its ability to produce future large-scale projects. Eurogamer notes that Doom: The Dark Ages recently received its Revelations DLC, while the studio’s longer-term future remains unclear amid reports that Xbox leadership remains interested in more Doom and Quake games.