id Software, the studio behind Doom, has reportedly lost about half its staff in the latest round of Xbox layoffs.
Game Developer broke the story. Sources say the cuts amount to more than 90 people. The QA department was hit especially hard. One former employee, Michael Maynard, confirmed the “roughly” 50 percent figure on LinkedIn.
The timing stings. The layoffs were reported the same day id released a major expansion for the latest Doom game. The team that built one of the best first-person engine technologies out there is now half its former size.
Xbox has been cutting across the board. These layoffs follow a pattern of consolidation and cost-cutting across Microsoft’s gaming division. But hitting id — a developer with that kind of pedigree — shows no studio’s safe.
