As the dust settles from Microsoft's big summer layoffs, many of those impacted are still enduring. Whether it's visa expiry countdown timers, supporting their families, paying bills, etc., the gaming industry in general has a variety of problems, and it's more often than not workers and developers paying the price.
For whatever reason, Microsoft seems to be disproportionately targeting Bethesda and ZeniMax for this layoff round. Hundreds of staffers from teams like ZeniMax Online Studios were laid off, and it looks like Arkane Lyon might end up being spun off to another publisher or taken independent. A lot of the alarm among the gaming community has focused on id Software, whose penchant for consistent quality and stewardship of the legendary DOOM IP has, in my view, represented a highlight of Microsoft's general gaming output.
Recently, id Software's Chris Hays spoke on a podcast, stating that Microsoft had left legendary DOOM maker id Software a shell of its former self, noting that it was "impossible" for the studio to deliver AAA games like DOOM 2016 with its current staffing levels. Rumors began swirling that Microsoft had well and truly gutted id Software, relegating its potential to a support studio, potentially ditching its legendary id Tech engine and focusing on building Unreal Engine games with other Microsoft studios.
I wanted to begin to learn more about what the truth is — and ultimately the proof will emerge when id Software's next title does eventually materialize. But it seems clear that id Software has been significantly disrupted by Microsoft's actions, and the path back to the top might be a tough one.
The impact of Xbox's id Software layoffs
One person I spoke to recently was Andrew Willis, who was id Software's VFX/Technical Art and Design Producer and most recently worked on DOOM: The Dark Ages and its (very awesome) Revelations DLC.
He explained Microsoft was very blunt with its announcements, which had been rumored in the press for a hot minute. Microsoft told id Software staff not to come into the office on July 6th, then invited everyone onto Microsoft Teams.
"I received a Microsoft Teams invite, there were about 95 of us, no cameras on with chat disabled, everyone muted except [Executive Producer] Marty Stratton. He took about 50 seconds to say that if you were on this call, your positions were eliminated. He said it wasn't a reflection on our performance," Willis explained.
I asked Willis to touch on something other Xbox studio leads have told me in recent months — that Microsoft poorly communicated its metrics for success. Not a couple of weeks before Microsoft shut down and later sold off Tango Gameworks a few years back, they'd called its most recent game 'Hi-Fi Rush' a big success.
"They never explained anything." Willis said, "They never told us what metric they wanted, which is extremely confusing given Xbox Game Pass. If there was something they wanted (downloads, playtime, Game Pass subscriptions, etc.), they never told us." Willis said that had id Software known what targets they were supposed to be hitting, they would've been able to design around it.
"It was frustrating to get laid off before we even saw how successful the [Revelations] DLC was. How can you lay off a team right before they release what gets called 'their best work yet'?"
Willis has been joined by other id Software and ZeniMax union members in protests at Bethesda's HQ in the United States, with more planned in the future.
I also spoke to Executive Producer Marty Stratton, who has been with id Software for over 25 years. Stratton remarked on the "emotion and pain" surrounding id Software's layoffs, but also spoke about the studio's future capabilities.
"I start a lot of conversations internally on how much I understand the emotion and the pain of the layoffs. It really is that. Any time I'm talking about the future, none of that is meant to diminish what people have gone through and their friends and colleagues who have been around for a very, very long time in some cases. I want to make sure that people understand that."
The future of id Software
A lot of the conjecture around id Software's future revolves around just how much capacity the studio is going to realistically have moving forward. It seems as though the studio has lost more than half of its staffers, wiping out decades of expertise and institutional knowledge, reducing the studio to roughly the same size it was when it shipped DOOM (2016).
Some have worried that id Software might be forced to ditch id Tech in favor of Unreal Engine to leverage contractors and the like. Some have expressed concerns that id Software will be reduced to a "support studio" of other Xbox projects; Stratton tells me that isn't the case. id Software will continue to make its own games, lead its projects, and also develop the id Tech engine, says Stratton.
"We're all in on id Tech; we're not moving to Unreal Engine," Stratton tells me. Stratton emphasized that MachineGames, of Wolfenstein fame, also remains all-in on id Tech, and the two studios will collaborate more closely on the tech stack moving forward.
"We're all in on id Tech, we're not moving to Unreal Engine."
Marty Stratton, id Software
"We had a meeting yesterday with five or six tech directors; sometimes you wish that the audience could've been in that tech meeting to see some of the excitement around some of this stuff. I don't think people should worry; we're going to continue to be a tech powerhouse moving forward."
Former VFX/Technical Art Producer Andrew Willis was a lot less upbeat about the near term. I asked Willis if he felt id Software's previous comments about the studio being the "same size" as it was for DOOM (2016) were cause for optimism for fans.
"This has been one of the most frustrating mischaracterizations I've seen. It is just damage control," Willis said. "Id is now objectively smaller than it was during 2016. They also fired 2/3rds of the folks that were left from 2016; these would be the people who have the experience needed to make a game like that. There are still amazing people there, no doubt. Some of my best friends still work there. But the amount of institutional knowledge lost was just incredible."
I noted to id Software Executive Producer Marty Stratton that fans are generally concerned about the capacity for id to deliver at the quality bar the team has become known for. He said that the recent QuakeCon event, while tough, had been a boost for the community.
"It was nice to be able to kind of share with attendees that, 'you know, hey, we're doing fine. It's tough, but we're going to move forward.' We've always persevered as a studio. We're going to again, we're going to continue to make great games, with great technology. And, like always, you know, we really appreciate the passion and support that they bring to us and the fuel that that gives us."
The industry is in a tough spot
Regardless of the reasons why this happened, the human cost is always the most apparent thing in my mind. Hundreds of staffers across Microsoft have had their lives upended, in Stratton's own words, with no reflection on their performance or skill.
As for id Software, the beloved DOOM maker seems like it will persevere and fight through, but Stratton also acknowledged that the ultimate proof of id Software's future viability will need to come through in the work.
"The verdict is going to be in how we move forward, what we deliver to fans, and whether or not that meets the bar. That's how we go into every single project we make. That's how we're going into what we're doing next."
"As hard as it's been, you know, over the course of the last month to have friends and long-time colleagues leave. I've been here 26 years now. This was my 26th anniversary. When I started, we were 12 people. We finished Doom 3 with 19 people. And again, I know it's a long time ago. That's an old game. Things change; we go through lots of transitions, but every single dev project is different from, you know, this combination of people, technological capability, and then marrying that to a design ambition. And I really believe in our team's ability to create amazing work moving forward."
The industry has huge challenges, but the disruption from non-gaming external factors is also a stressor. Microsoft is ironically one of the causes of those stressors, in partially facilitating the memory and component crisis, as it chases an uncertain AI bet that at least today, seems to be causing more problems than it's purported to solve.
"I would say to hang in there to developers," Andrew Willis offered. "To fans, I'd say please support the developers during this tough time. We all care about and love games like you, and we need to stop the people who do not care about game industry from ruining it."
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