id Software Responds to Xbox Layoffs: 'We Still Have the Crew We Need'

What Happened

id Software, the legendary studio behind Doom and Quake, got caught up in Microsoft's latest round of Xbox layoffs this week. Reports suggested most, if not all, of the studio's coders had been let go — a scary headline for anyone who loves the franchise that basically invented the first-person shooter genre.

But id isn't going quiet. The studio issued a statement Friday pushing back on the doom-and-gloom framing (pun intended), saying the cuts were real but spread across teams, not a wipeout of its engineering core.

Why This Matters

'While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams,' id's statement read. '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).'

That's a notable comparison. Doom (2016) is widely considered one of the best reboots in gaming history — a lean, mean project that revived a dormant franchise and reestablished id as a technical powerhouse. If the team really is back to that size and structure, it's less a death blow and more a return to a leaner era that already produced a hit.

The Bigger Picture

id also leaned into its identity as a 'flat studio where everyone is a maker,' meaning there's no bloated hierarchy — everyone, in theory, is hands-on building the game. That philosophy has been part of id's DNA since the days of John Carmack and John Romero, and the studio says it's not abandoning that structure now.

The timing stings a bit, though. id just shipped a major update tied to its game and tech stack this week, and Microsoft's broader layoffs across Xbox have hit multiple studios in 2026 as the company continues restructuring after its massive Activision Blizzard acquisition. id Tech, the engine id builds and licenses out to other studios (including Machine Games for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), remains one of Microsoft's most valuable pieces of internal tooling — which may explain why id's core team survived relatively intact.

What Fans Should Know

For Doom and Quake fans worried this means a slowdown or cancellation of future projects, id's statement is meant to be reassuring: the studio says it has what it needs to keep making the games and technology it's built its reputation on. Whether that holds up long-term as Microsoft continues trimming Xbox studios is the real question worth watching.