Xbox layoffs have reportedly cut roughly half the staff at id Software, the studio behind DOOM and Quake. The cuts hit affected employees this week.
They follow a broader reset of Microsoft’s gaming division under new Xbox leadership. Asha Sharma has confirmed more than 3,000 job losses across Xbox studios over the next 12 months. Roughly 1,600 positions were already eliminated in the past week alone.
What the id Software layoffs look like
Michael Maynard, a senior gameplay systems programmer, described the cuts on LinkedIn. He has more than 40 years in the games industry, including over 20 years at id Software. “I was part of the team (roughly 50% of the company) that was let go today,” he wrote.
Game Developer reported that the percentage translates to more than 90 redundancies at the studio, based on its current headcount. Neither Microsoft nor id Software has published an official figure. Bethesda has not addressed the id Software layoffs in a public statement either.
Maynard’s post carries particular weight given his history at the studio. He spent more than two decades there, spanning several console generations and multiple DOOM and Quake releases. His departure, alongside dozens of colleagues, points to a studio now running with far fewer hands than it had at the start of the year.
Xbox’s wider restructuring
id Software is not the only studio affected. Some developers, including Double Fine, have regained independence from Microsoft as part of the same wave of changes. That ends their time as first-party Xbox studios. Other internal teams have reportedly been folded into different studios or closed outright since the cuts began.
Bethesda, id Software’s parent publisher, is said to be narrowing its focus toward its biggest franchises. DOOM and Quake have been named as priorities going forward. That leaves a smaller id Software team responsible for two of Microsoft’s biggest game series, even as both still carry active support commitments.
DOOM: The Dark Ages continues without a Switch 2 release
The layoffs land shortly after id Software shipped new downloadable content for DOOM: The Dark Ages. No Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game has been announced. The studio previously brought both DOOM and DOOM Eternal to the original Switch.
How the reduced headcount will affect ongoing support for DOOM: The Dark Ages is unclear. The same goes for future entries in either franchise. id Software has not commented publicly on its plans since the layoffs were reported.
The studio has historically run lean compared to other major first-party developers, relying on a small, veteran-heavy team to ship its games. Losing roughly half that team in one round of cuts is among the largest single-studio reductions to come out of Microsoft’s ongoing restructuring so far.