id Software Programmer Blasts Xbox After 136 Layoffs, Says AAA Games Are Impossible With Half Staff
Updated
Updated · IGN · Aug 8
id Software Programmer Blasts Xbox After 136 Layoffs, Says AAA Games Are Impossible With Half Staff
3 articles · Updated · IGN · Aug 8
Summary
Chris Hays said id Software cannot build the kind of AAA Doom games it made before after July cuts eliminated 136 jobs and gutted entire departments.
Hays, a lead services programmer at id since 2010, said Xbox and Microsoft "fundamentally don't understand art," arguing Game Pass muddies what counts as a sale and leaves teams unclear on success metrics.
id had told fans on July 10 that the studio remained about the size it was during Doom 2016 and still had the crew it needed, but Hays said the team is now smaller than that and effectively "half the same id."
The dispute lands amid Xbox's broader reset under CEO Asha Sharma, which cut 1,600 staff immediately in July and plans another 1,600 reductions this financial year.