Doom: The Dark Ages developer id Software has been affected by the layoffs at Xbox.
Multiple sources indicate that id Software has lost around 50 percent of its staff, including those in the studio’s programming department, effectively suggesting that the id Engine is no longer being supported, as Xbox has fired all those capable of working on it. The waterfall effect of this decision means that both Doom and Quake will now likely be developed in Unreal Engine 5 rather than using the proprietary id Tech that’s been used for Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Indiana Jones.
Alongside programming, the quality assurance department was gutted. On LinkedIn, Michael Maynard, who worked at the studio for over two decades, did not mince words about layoffs at id Software:
Former co-founder John Romero posted about the layoffs today, saying:
“I’m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs,” Romero posts on Bluesky.
“I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history.
“The people at id have done a great job moving that legacy forward. DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein are not easy names to carry on, especially in today’s industry. The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.
“A note on digital preservation: id’s history is critically important to the history of games. I’ve preserved id’s complete early history from our start at Softdisk through to August 6, 1996, including materials and assets that, as far as I know, id itself no longer has. I hope someone is doing the same for the company’s ongoing legacy (the work, code, assets, stories and the people behind them).
“I’m thinking of everyone at id today, and everyone else affected by yesterday’s layoffs. Romero Games was there a year ago. I know how devastating it is, and my heart’s with all of you.”
Romero is no stranger to layoffs, as just last year his studio was hit with layoffs after Xbox pulled funding for a game it was working on. This is around the time we learned The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot was cancelled alongside Rare’s Everwild.
