John Carmack, co-founder of Id Software, has responded to news that the DOOM creator has been hit by major layoffs in wake of sweeping job losses across Xbox studios this week.
Speaking on X, Carmack, who served as lead programmer on a number of Id Software’s pioneering titles such as DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein, had the following to say:
I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs. My ‘Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand’ statement isn’t aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month. I’m saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective.
I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios. To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved. Games are competing with every other option for spending your leisure time and money, and the competition is brutal.
I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id game. Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy? Could they have created more things for fans to buy? Could they have cost effectively marketed in a way that reached more players that would have loved and bought the games?
Could they have changed the game designs and broadened the appeal to more players without alienating existing ones? Could they have produced the games at a lower cost, faster or cheaper? I really don’t know. The game isn’t over yet, and I hope the studio rallies through.
Earlier this week, Derek Best, who served as an VFX artist at Id Software, stated that the studio had been “nuked into the dirt” and that it was effectively reduced to “support studio status.” Furthermore, a WARN notice this week indicated that 96 workers had been laid off in Id Software’s base of operations in Richardson, Texas, with 40 remote workers also losing their jobs.
Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox and Phil Spencer’s successor, announced earlier this week that the company was laying off 3,200 staff as part of plans to ‘reset’ the hardware manufacturer, which also included selling and spinning off a number of studios.
[Source – John Carmack on X via VGC]