Doom developer id reportedly cut in half as part of Xbox layoffs

As part of the mass layoffs hitting Xbox, Doom developer id Software has laid off around 50 percent of its staff, according to Game Developer. One source claimed to the publication that the cuts equate to more than 90 redundancies. Another source said that id’s QA department was significantly impacted. The report was published the same day that id is releasing a major expansion for its latest Doom game.

A former id employee affected by the cuts, Michael Maynard, corroborated the figure in a LinkedIn post, saying that the layoffs affected “roughly” 50 percent of the company. “We created arguably THE BEST first person engine technology in the industry,” he said. “Yet today, Microsoft/XBOX decided half the team was deemed USELESS and needed to 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.”

Xbox didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that ZeniMax, the parent company of id, Bethesda, and other studios, would be focusing more on big franchises, including Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Quake, and Wolfenstein. On Bluesky, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier said id would be cutting a “significant number of staff.”

Developers at id unionized last year. “Today’s layoffs decimated the teams at id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, and ZeniMax Online Studios, legendary studios whose employees brought us games like Doom, Quake, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout,” Derrick Osobase, vice president, CWA District 6, says in a statement. “The layoffs that occurred this week will lower the quality of these iconic games and make them less fun to play with longer delays in releases, ultimately just hurting the players and driving down revenue for Microsoft.”

id cofounder John Romero posted a message in support of staffers impacted by the cuts. “I’m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs,” he said. “I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history.” Romero is also not a stranger to the effects of Microsoft’s cost-cutting: The company reportedly canceled funding for a new title from Romero Games as part of its July 2025 round of Xbox cuts and layoffs.

Approximately 1,600 Xbox employees were laid off on Monday, and about 1,600 more will be cut throughout Microsoft’s next fiscal year, which runs through June 2027, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said. The cuts came as part of broader layoffs at Microsoft, which impacted 4,800 employees. So far, Blizzard Entertainment, which sits under Activision, hasn’t been immediately affected by layoffs. But in a memo to staff reported on by Windows Central, Blizzard president Johanna Faries said that the team can “expect to hear more details regarding the day’s events and what they mean for Blizzard in further communications.”