id Software has given a public statement following the deep cuts and layoffs that hit the studio this week. In this message, they discuss the team’s smaller size and give a bullish outlook for its future, both making games, technology, and hosting the annual QuakeCon festival in August.
In particular, they note that the team is now roughly the same size as it was when they were making Doom 2016, emphasise that they have a fairly flat studio structure (which does expose Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s implication that a lot of layoffs would be coming from middle management), but also that they are keen to keep making games and technology.
The team writes on social media:
Thank you all for the support this week.
While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.
We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and were looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.
Reports about the demise of the id Tech team at id Software may have been exaggerated or missed out on key facts about the situation. In a statement to Windows Central, Microsoft said, “There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations. Reports that there’s only one person left in Texas are inaccurate.”
As amusing as the tone of the final sentence is, it is true that id Tech is developed in part by id Software’s Frankfurt studio, and that Machine Games used a customised version of id Tech called Motor for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle which preceded id Tech 8 in implementing ray tracing features.
As for id Software, while there were reports that they had previously pitched their own take on Perfect Dark and a John Wick styled action game since the release of Doom: The Dark Ages, the latest report from The Verge’s Tom Warren is that they’re starting work on the next Doom following the release of The Dark Ages – Revelations this week.
Source: id Software
