Doom Developer id Software Has Reportedly Lost Half of Its Workforce

Yesterday, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that the big Xbox reset will lead to approximately 3,200 job cuts throughout the company’s new fiscal year, with 1,600 employees across Xbox Game Studios, Activision Blizzard King, and Bethesda/ZeniMax losing their jobs immediately. If the entire scope of the layoffs wasn’t immediately clear, it has since been reported that id Software, the developer of the just-released “Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC, has lost nearly half of its workforce.

Michael Maynard, a Principal Gameplay System Programmer who has just been laid off after working at id Software for 21 years, posted on LinkedIn that “roughly 50% of the company” has been eliminated. “Microsoft/XBOX decided half the team was no longer needed and should be let go; despite all the amazing work and effort from every designer, programmer, artist, audio specialist, level designer, fx, tech design, and on and on and on,” the id Software veteran posted. “Just really sad that this is how Id Software, the PIONEER/INNOVATOR of FPS action games is relegated to just another “reorganization” of assets,” he added.

Scott Miller, another video games industry veteran who worked on legendary franchises such as Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein 3D, also shared on X that he heard that id Software has lost “most (if not all)” of its coders. Another source told Game Developer that the studio’s QA department has also been hugely impacted by the job cuts.

This post was about the insider news I got this morning that a majority of Id's studio is being laid off, including most (if not all) coders. https://t.co/OcPrLgvYBG

— Scott Miller – Apogee/3D Realms Founder ☢️ (@ScottApogee) July 6, 2026

As you may know, id Software is also the developer of the id Tech engine used by Doom and Wolfenstein games, as well as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. id Tech 8, the latest version of the engine used on Doom: The Dark Ages, added support for ray-traced lighting and shading, more blood and destruction, and more.

Many of Xbox’s internal studios are using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine to develop their games: That’s the case for the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day. While I’m no game development expert, it’s hard not to see Microsoft getting rid of the talented developers at id Software as a missed opportunity.

Asha Sharma actually wrote yesterday that Xbox “will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.” How the new Xbox CEO plans to execute all while losing top talent at id Software is not clear at all.

Lastly, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier also reported that following the job cuts, Bethesda/ZeniMax will now “pivot to focus on its biggest franchises: Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein.” The unionized Bethesda Game Studios workers voiced their serious concerns regarding these plans.

“We lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers, and testers. Many of whom worked at BGS for decades. If Bethesda fans are worried this will harm the quality of our future games, like The Elder Scrolls VI, let Microsoft know,” the Bethesda Game Studios Union posted on social media, adding a link to Xbox’s new Player Voice feedback portal.

One way you can show Microsoft your concern is here through the XBOX Player Voice feedback platform: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide…

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— Bethesda Game Studios Union (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social) July 7, 2026 at 5:15 PM