Most coders may have been let go.

Image credit: Bethesda Softworks

Xbox is cutting 3200 jobs between now and the end of financial year 2027, with studios like Undead Labs and Compulsion Games going independent as others also try to navigate an uncertain future. Moreover, ZeniMax's entire division - which includes all of Bethesda's big studios - is facing major layoffs, even if no studios are being shut down for now. Now, we're hearing id Software has been hit particularly hard just as Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations prepares to launch later today.

The 'course correction' Xbox is after is targeting both the iconic Doom and Quake franchises as priorities, yet reports and social media posts that paint a very difficult (to put it lightly) picture are coming in. "Just heard 95 at id," ex-Bethesda project lead Jeff Gardiner shared on X after we'd learned about the sweeping overall cuts and studio changes. For reference, it's understood that id Software had 185 staffers by late 2025, when it signed union cards.

Apogee and 3D Realms founder Scott Miller added a huge part of id Software was being laid off, "including most (if not all) coders". For such an iconic and storied game studio, this could mean an unfixable loss of knowledge and know-how, especially relating to id Tech, which is regularly called the best FPS game engine in the industry and is a crucial part of video game history as a whole. If the plan is to move id Software to mainstream but less specialised engines like Unreal, we're looking at a creative and technological catastrophe for one of the most important studios in the business.

Digital Foundry's John Linneman also added he'd been hearing more about the full impact of these cuts. "The disappointment here is off the charts." Colin Geller, principal concept artist at the studio for over 12 years, shared on LinkedIn he'd been laid off after working on every new Doom project since 2016 and MachineGames' Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. "One of the truly special things about the studio was the sheer amount of skill amongst the team and the exciting and intense collaboration which is what made our games special and successful."

Needless to say, deep cuts hitting as the studio launches a massive Doom DLC the developers seemed particularly proud of - I personally previewed it a while back - feels particularly ghoulish, and the worst part is that we simply aren't shocked anymore. Elsewhere, ZeniMax Online's The Elder Scrolls Online team is facing similar uncertainty despite avoiding total closure.

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