John Carmack has responded to the significant layoffs at Doom developer id Software, expressing sadness but not “anger or outrage.”
On Wednesday, a Game Developer WARN notice filed in Texas confirmed that 96 employees in Richardson, Texas, where id Software is based, were laid off and another 40 remote roles were eliminated. According to reports, 50% of employees have lost their jobs.
The cuts are part of new Xbox boss Asha Sharma’s “reboot” of Microsoft’s gaming business, which began with 1,600 employees losing their jobs on Monday. Another 1,600 will be laid off during the current financial year. Four Xbox studios are already on the doorstep, with another one hot on their heels.
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Carmack, who co-founded id Software in 1991 with John Romero, Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack, took to social media to express his belief that the company was a “fringe business” for Microsoft and that he saw no obvious way to make more money from his games.
Here is the full explanation:
I tried to say something meaningful about the layoffs at Id Software.
My statement “Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand” is not getting old, and that will certainly dampen the mood at the founders meeting at QuakeCon next month.
I’m sad, but I can’t muster any anger or indignation about it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that id Software was a fringe business from Microsoft’s perspective. I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have benefited several other studios.
In order to be produced in the long term, games must be successful and not just popular.
Games compete with every other way to spend your free time and money, and the competition is brutal.
You can’t rule out the possibility that leaders are idiots, but that shouldn’t be your default belief. I don’t think there is an obvious way that would have doubled Id game revenue.
Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy?
Could they have created more things for fans to buy?
Could they have marketed cost-effectively in a way that would have reached more players who would have loved and bought the games?
Could they have changed the game design and broadened its appeal to more players without alienating existing players?
Could they have produced the games at a lower cost, faster or cheaper?
I really don’t know.
The game isn’t over yet and I hope the studio comes through.
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There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s start with Carmack’s suggestion that ID software is a “fringe business” for Microsoft. Considering Microsoft brought in $281.72 billion in revenue last fiscal year, id Software is little more than a rounding error if you want to look at the studio from such a high perspective. I imagine it’s the same with most Xbox studios.
However, compared to some other Xbox studios, id Software has been productive. The 2016 Doom reboot was a blast. Yes, 2019’s Rage 2 had problems, but 2020’s Doom Eternal, released just a year later, got fans back on track. 2022’s Quake Champions has always been a bit of an odd release, but last year’s Doom: The Dark Ages was also great fun. These Doom games didn’t sell at Call of Duty levels, but they left a lasting impression.
Then there’s Carmack’s line: “I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have benefited several other studios.” This is according to a recent Bloomberg article about what’s happening at Xbox as part of its “reset” plan. Here is the relevant section:
Going forward, Xbox plans to take a leaner approach to games and studios instead of a bigger is better approach. The company will focus more on franchises such as Minecraft from studio Mojang, which previously operated more or less independently. Profits from Minecraft, considered one of the world’s most successful video games, were used to fund the rest of its gaming portfolio, according to the person familiar with the Xbox division.
Essentially, has Minecraft supported Xbox studios like id Software? If so, that’s not as surprising as it sounds. Many major entertainment companies operate similarly, with one or two megahits helping to keep the bigger picture going. These huge money makers encourage risk-taking, experimentation, and reboots of older first-person shooters. At least they did.
Then there is perhaps the most apt sentence in Carmack’s statement: “To continue to be produced in the long term, games must be successful, not just popular.” All he’s saying here is that id’s recent releases – say, from 2016’s Doom reboot to this month’s Dark Ages DLC – haven’t been successful. I assume that Carmack is equating success with sales here. That is, he says that while people loved the Doom games, not enough people bought them. Ergo: layoffs in 2026.
Microsoft doesn’t release game sales figures or studio revenue figures, so we don’t know what its financials have been this year. According to GamesBeat, id was working on developing new game ideas, such as an original John Wick-style IP, a new Perfect Dark game, and a multiplayer/co-op Doom game. Perhaps the biggest mistake was that no new game was ready even before The Dark Ages came out. Whatever the truth, the future of id is now unclear. Some even fear that the legendary shooter studio could be downgraded to support status.
Earlier this week, John Romero took to social media to offer his support to affected id Software employees and call for preserving the studio’s recent legacy.
“Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein are not easy names, especially in today’s industry,” he said. “The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what these worlds mean to people.”
Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director of News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
https://www.ign.com/articles/to-continue-being-produced-long-term-games-need-to-succeed-not-just-be-beloved-john-carmack-responds-to-id-software-layoffs
