A social post from the account of id Software has stated that the studio still has “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for” after dramatic staff cuts across the Xbox portfolio lead to claims that the firm would no longer maintain the idtech engine used to create Doom, Wolfenstein and the recent Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The post on X, which contains no attribution, says that “the team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016)”.
“We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.”
The post follows previous claims that the layoffs at the company, which resulted in the loss of 136 people – around half the company – has left it incapable of maintaining idtech. Kotaku previously reported a departed staff member as saying that “id Tech as a technology is probably dead forever,” after the loss of so many key staff in the firm’s Texas base.
Microsoft later stated that “there are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations,” and denied claims that only one staff member in Texas was left working on the platform.
The full post reads as follows:
“Thank you all for the support this week.
While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.
We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.”
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced on Monday that the firm would be cutting 3,200 jobs over the course of this financial year,around 20% of its total workforce, with 1,600 staff being made redundant immediately. Staff have been dismissed from across the business, and five studios are being divested.
Id co-founder John Carmack said yesterday that his “‘Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand’ statement isn’t aging well”, and that “I’m saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it.”
