id Software Loses Half Its Staff, Including idTech Engineers, as Xbox’s ‘Big Reset’ Cleaves the Doom Studio

The same day id Software shipped Doom: The Dark Ages, Revelations DLC, roughly half the studio was laid off, including most of its coders and the legendary idTech engine team. The grim timing underscores a deeper irony: a studio that defined the first-person shooter and pioneered proprietary engine technology is being hollowed out at the peak of its commercial success. This is not just another round of industry cuts; it is the systematic dismantling of a three-decade technical legacy, carried out under the banner of what Xbox CEO Asha Sharma called “the most significant restructure in Xbox history.” And the studio’s freshly unionized workforce, still without a first contract, watched helplessly.

The Bloodbath, What Happened at id Software

Approximately 95 of id Software’s estimated 185-200 employees were laid off on July 6-7, 2026, coinciding with the release of the Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages. The figure, cited by former Bethesda lead Jeff Gardiner on social media, represents a roughly 50% reduction in headcount. Long-time veterans publicly confirmed their departures: 21-year senior gameplay systems programmer Michael Maynard and 12-year principal concept artist Colin Geller both announced their layoffs online. Maynard wrote on X, “It’s heartbreaking to leave the engine I helped build for two decades. idTech wasn’t just code, it was a philosophy, and it deserved better.”

The cuts hit every department. Most, if not all, programmers were let go, including the team responsible for idTech, the engine that has powered virtually every id title since Quake in 1996. The QA department was decimated, and the Quake Champions team was gutted. Industry veterans Scott Miller and George Broussard, co-founder of Apogee and 3D Realms, added further detail on social media, characterizing the layoffs as a near-total loss of engineering talent. Broussard later declared the studio “effectively dead,” a sentiment echoed by many in the industry.

The idTech Erosion, Why Losing the Engine Team Matters

idTech is more than a piece of software; it is the technological backbone of an entire era of PC gaming. From Quake to Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, idTech has set benchmarks for performance, graphical fidelity, and modding support. It was also licensed to other studios, including the developers of early Call of Duty titles. The engine team’s departure raises an existential question: can id Software continue to maintain and evolve its proprietary technology without the people who built it?

Industry observers, including former id engineer Michael Maynard on X, speculate that id may be forced to adopt Unreal Engine for future projects. Such a shift would mark a historic break from the studio’s identity, a move away from the in-house innovation that gave the industry deeply optimized, idTech-powered games. Even if new hires arrive, the institutional knowledge lost with 20-year veterans like Maynard cannot be replaced quickly, if at all.

Inside Xbox’s ‘Big Reset’, Why id Was Sacrificed

These layoffs are part of a larger restructuring announced by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma on July 6. In an internal email, Sharma revealed 3,200 job cuts across the gaming division, 1,600 immediate, with a further 1,600 planned for fiscal year 2027. She described the move as unprecedented in the company’s history.

Within Bethesda, president Jill Braff sent a separate email stating the publisher would focus on its strongest franchises: Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Yet id Software, the creator of Doom and Quake, was hit harder than any other Bethesda studio. The paradox is sharp: Doom: The Dark Ages had just reached 3 million players in its first week, boosted by a simultaneous Game Pass launch, making it the studio’s biggest release ever. Profitable and at the top of its form, id was nonetheless deemed expendable under the new corporate vision.

The cuts appear driven by cost-cutting and portfolio consolidation rather than performance. id was profitable, but not considered “essential” to Xbox’s future, a jarring assessment for a studio whose name is synonymous with the first-person shooter genre.

The Union That Couldn’t Protect, id Software’s Contractless CWA Membership

id Software unionized with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in late 2025, covering approximately 165 workers under Microsoft’s labor neutrality agreement. It was a landmark move, one of the largest studio unions in the industry. But no first contract had been negotiated by the time the layoffs happened, leaving union members with no contractual protections.

The CWA released a statement calling the layoffs “devastating” and accusing Xbox of treating workers as disposable despite its neutrality pledge. “Microsoft promised to respect our right to organize, but that promise rings hollow when workers can still be cut without warning or recourse,” the statement read. The incident highlights a broader weakness: union recognition alone offers little protection without a ratified agreement that includes job security provisions. Across Microsoft’s gaming division, more than 3,500 workers have unionized since 2022, yet fewer than 200 have ratified contracts, underscoring how neutrality pledges can become hollow without bargaining deadlines.

What’s Left?, The Future of id Software

John Romero, id’s co-founder, expressed sorrow on social media and urged the preservation of id’s legacy and source code, implying that the studio’s historical archives may be at risk. George Broussard’s declaration that the studio is “effectively dead” may be an opinion, but the objective facts, a 50% staff cut, the loss of most engineers, the dismantling of the idTech team, make that characterization plausible.

If id switches to Unreal Engine, it would end a three-decade era of in-house engine innovation. The remaining team is likely too small to both maintain idTech and produce new games at the pace Microsoft expects. The result could be outsourcing, further cuts, or a fundamental shift in what id Software is.

The broader question: can a studio survive after losing half its staff, especially its technical backbone, without fundamentally changing its identity? id Software gave the world Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Now it faces an existential crisis. Whether it can rebuild, or whether it will be folded into a larger machine, stripped of its distinct engine and culture, remains uncertain. But the message from Xbox’s “big reset” is clear: even legendary status offers no immunity when corporate priorities shift.