It has been one hell of a week for XBOX owned studios. Around 1,600 employees have been laid off, with the promise of another 1,600 layoffs to come in the months ahead. One of those studios, id Software, was apparently one of the hardest hit with a reported 50% of the studio laid off.
There were reports saying that most, if not all, of the people working on id Tech were included in the layoffs. Earlier this week, Kotaku reported that the id Tech team was reduced to just a single employee.
id Software issued a statement today to perhaps calm the rumors a bit. Of course the layoffs are bad, but their statement makes it sound like it's a bit "less bad" than was initially thought. The image and a transcription of the image can be found below. In short, the team at id Software is now back to the size they were at when making Doom (2016). The studio does not deny that nearly 50% of their studio (said to be 136 people) were laid off.
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 we're looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.
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 we're looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August.
