RIP Id Software

[Nidstang]

I am absolutely devastated by this news. DOOM is my all-time favorite game franchise. I love Quake. I love Wolfenstein. 136 employees fired from Id Software out of around 180. All of the key engineers and artists. Ex-employees indicating that Id will now be allocated to a support company, and will convert over from Id Tech (one of the best gaming engines ever designed) to Unreal Engine (ugh).
All this done THE DAY before the DOOM The Dark Ages Revelations DLC came out. The year of the 10th anniversary of DOOM 2016. The 30th anniversary of Quake. One month before Quakecon. I genuinely cannot believe Xbox is this stupid. I'm so angry and depressed about this. We'll likely never get another DOOM or Quake ever again, and if we do, it will be a hollow shell of what Id is capable of.

One of the absolute best studios in the industry, with decades worth of talent, and legendary status IPs destroyed by corporate greed and stupidity.

Update: 136 workers have been laid off at id Software

The news comes with Xbox preparing to 'reset' its video game division by eliminating 3,200 roles.

www.gamedeveloper.com

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/id-software-dev-claims-its-been-relegated-to-support-studio-size-as-136-layoffs-confirmed/

 

[MorriganW0lf]

It is sad to see them "go" like this, I remember playing Doom 1 as a kid and being scared but intrigued by it, when i was a teen i remember trying to play Doom 3 at 2 am on my shitty laptop back when it was new. Most of my formative gaming memories have Doom in them. This is trully the timeline where everything is bad.

 

[gwardojones]

I almost never play AAA games anymore, but the new DOOM games (and even the ports of the older id games) were a bright spot in an industry full of greed and disregard for consumers and devs. I'm not shocked that this is happening, and I'm frankly expecting most of the other devs under Microsoft to eventually follow suit, but this definitely hurts.

 

[bratish]

doomed...

 

[nyka]

Really feels like we're heading towards another crash of some kind; I mean indies continue to knock out great games; but the AAA and even AA markets might be dinosaurs of a fading age.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Thanks for all the slaughter, ID.

We had fun.

 

[Sumer_Singh_3]

Ionstorm went out with more dignity man. At least you could say they went out making games they loved like Anachronox and Thief Deadly Shadows. Despite embarrassments like Daikatana, all their other games were either game changing masterpieces like Deus Ex, decent games Invisible War and genuinely underrated or fun games like previously mentioned two. Even at their worst games like Daikatana, there was a passion, and they eventually fell, but not without attempting to do what their hearts desired. They recieved a death. A glorious death. Yes, it is death nonethless but they got to walk out with an honor and saying they did what they did even if they failed.

This on the other hand, you just wish this was death. This is not death, this is a vegetative coma where Id is now being sold to pleasure the lowest paying necrophile. They are going to be a support studio chugging away at the Call of Duty mines or at best case scenario, make UE slop sequels to Doom. It is a fate worse than death. You can hear the ECG machine beeping and you know the right thing to do is to pull the plug and let the dead rest, but instead, the name will be defiled as it goes on until they die with a wimper and not a bang, with all their honor stripped off them.

 

[Lena CE]

Punished for making 3 of the best games of the past decade with a gutting. Such a joke...

 

[Sumer_Singh_3]

Punished for making 3 of the best games of the past decade with a gutting. Such a joke...

I mean, Tango made two of the best games of this xbox generation and their reward was not a bonus but a firing. It was the gaming equivalent of Alan Turing being rewarded for saving people's lives with a court sentence. So I haven't expected smart decisions from this company for past three years to be honest.

 

[Neb Lleb]

I am absolutely devastated by this news. DOOM is my all-time favorite game franchise. I love Quake. I love Wolfenstein. 136 employees fired from Id Software out of around 180. All of the key engineers and artists. Ex-employees indicating that Id will now be allocated to a support company, and will convert over from Id Tech (one of the best gaming engines ever designed) to Unreal Engine (ugh).
All this done THE DAY before the DOOM The Dark Ages Revelations DLC came out. The year of the 10th anniversary of DOOM 2016. The 30th anniversary of Quake. One month before Quakecon. I genuinely cannot believe Xbox is this stupid. I'm so angry and depressed about this. We'll likely never get another DOOM or Quake ever again, and if we do, it will be a hollow shell of what Id is capable of.

One of the absolute best studios in the industry, with decades worth of talent, and legendary status IPs destroyed by corporate greed and stupidity.

Update: 136 workers have been laid off at id Software

The news comes with Xbox preparing to 'reset' its video game division by eliminating 3,200 roles.

www.gamedeveloper.com

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/id-software-dev-claims-its-been-relegated-to-support-studio-size-as-136-layoffs-confirmed/

TBH, when I played Doom: The Dark Ages, I didn't know it would be Id's swan song. But here we are. Even under new management, Xbox is still as stupid as it was under Phil Spencer. I don't know when the industry crash will finally cause damage, but it can't come soon enough.