id Software was pitching several new projects in the months before Microsoft cut 136 of the studio’s 185 developers. Those pitches included a new Perfect Dark and an original cyberpunk game inspired by John Wick. The id Software layoffs landed while the team was still shaping what would follow Doom: The Dark Ages.
The details come from a GamesBeat report that interviewed several former id Software staff about the cuts. According to that report, the studio wrapped the Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages without a major project lined up to follow it. Staff spent that stretch pitching internal concepts instead. That gap reportedly left the team exposed once Xbox moved to cut costs across its studios.
The projects id Software was pitching
One pitch was an original title codenamed Fury. It reportedly came from studio co-director Hugo Martin. The concept blended sci-fi and noir elements with cyberpunk visuals and gun fu combat modeled on the John Wick films. A second pitch, codenamed Ironwood, was a western-themed robot survival game.
On the Doom side, the team had drafted separate plans for multiplayer, co-op, and DLC projects. None of those reached production. A Perfect Dark pitch had reportedly progressed furthest of all, with a full presentation and concept art already produced.
The Perfect Dark series has not had a new release since its Xbox 360 launch title. A separate reboot from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics was canceled last year. Two attempts to revive the franchise have now stalled within twelve months of each other.
Why the id Software layoffs happened
Reports out of Bethesda suggest Xbox is pushing to get The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 out sooner. The company reportedly wants its remaining studios focused on established franchises such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake instead of new pitches.
id Software made both Doom and Quake, along with Wolfenstein 3D. The layoffs therefore cut directly into the teams behind those same franchises, even as Xbox says it wants to lean on them more heavily.
The cuts also follow a pattern already visible elsewhere at Xbox Game Studios. Matt Booty is now executive vice president and chief content officer of Xbox. He said the company needed smaller games that give us prestige and awards, a comment he made a day after Xbox closed Tango Gameworks. That studio made Hi-Fi Rush, a smaller game that had already delivered both.
John Romero, one of id Software’s founders, has since praised the developers who kept the studio’s legacy going through the layoffs. None of the shelved pitches, including Fury, Ironwood, and the new Perfect Dark concept, are expected to move forward under the current plan. For now, Xbox appears set on established franchises rather than the ideas id Software’s remaining staff were developing.