ID Software loses half staff unable to make AAA games now

id Software Veteran Chris Hays Blasts Xbox: July Layoffs Halved Studio, Ended DOOM-Caliber AAA Production

3,200 jobs eliminated. That was the toll of Xbox's July layoffs—roughly 20% of Microsoft's gaming workforce. Among the hardest hit was id Software, where headcount was slashed in half, specialized teams were dissolved, and multiple core departments were dismantled. According to 15-year industry veteran Chris Hays, the damage is so severe that the studio can no longer produce DOOM-caliber AAA games. The cuts mark one of the largest restructurings in Xbox history.

Hays framed the damage in starkly practical terms. Building a top-tier AAA game, he argued, is like maintaining a complex machine. Every level designer and every engine programmer functions as an irreplaceable component. Xbox didn't just trim headcount; it ripped out the vital parts. The remaining staff, no matter how talented, simply cannot rebuild what was lost.

Xbox management claims the post-layoff team is comparable in size to the DOOM 4 era, insisting the studio can still replicate that level of development. Hays called out the narrative directly. After losing half the staff, matching previous standards is simply impossible. The gap between the official PR line and reality, he noted, isn't a matter of interpretation. It’s just arithmetic.

Then there is Xbox's contradictory logic. The publisher pushes day-one releases into Game Pass to drive subscriptions, then complains when those same games underperform in direct sales. It’s a self-defeating way to measure success. Xbox has since standardized its internal messaging to reassure remaining employees and cover up the structural collapse. However, the unified PR line has done little to convince the developers actually doing the work.

The implications for upcoming titles like DOOM: The Dark Ages are bleak. From DOOM 4 through DOOM: Eternal, id Software consistently pushed the technical limits of the FPS genre. That trajectory depended on institutional knowledge built over a decade. When those teams scatter, no amount of corporate optimism can rebuild that chemistry overnight.

The community has responded with anger and deepening resignation. Microsoft acquires a storied studio, then systematically hollows it out—it’s a familiar pattern. The core criticism extends well beyond id Software. Xbox continues to evaluate games purely through commercial metrics, fundamentally misunderstanding the creative process, the collaborative effort, and the long development cycles that AAA excellence demands. When a publisher no longer grasps what it holds, the damage extends far beyond a single studio.