Microsoft’s mass layoffs might taken a sledgehammer to the famed FPS studio.
Doom creator id Software program is shedding round 50 p.c of its workers, Game Developer reports. The cuts at id Software program are part of bigger mass layoffs Microsoft announced on Monday, primarily centered on Xbox and its recreation studios.
Whereas neither Microsoft nor id Software program have formally acknowledged the layoffs, one former member of the studio’s workers, Michael Maynard, has echoed the 50 p.c determine on LinkedIn. In keeping with at the very least one in all Sport Developer‘s sources, that would translate to round 90 job cuts, although it is so far unclear what departments at id Software program have been hit hardest.
Engadget has contacted Microsoft for extra data on id Software program’s layoffs. We’ll replace this text if we hear again.
Like a number of different studios underneath Xbox, id Software is unionized with the Communications Staff of America (CWA). Whereas Microsoft’s labor neutrality agreement with the CWA meant the developer’s “wall-to-wall” union was instantly acknowledged in 2025, studio workers has but to achieve an settlement with the corporate on a primary contract. In a statement revealed in response to the Xbox layoffs, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. says Microsoft “slow-walked union members on the bargaining desk” stopping them from accessing the protections of a union contract. In the identical assertion, Vice President of CWA District 2-13 Mike Davis mentioned the union would demand “instant bargaining” over “honest severance” amongst different issues.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that as a part of the “reset” at Xbox, ZeniMax Media, the mum or dad firm of id Software program, will probably be specializing in its largest franchises — like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein and Doom — going ahead. It is doable that motivated the cuts to id Software program, however the developer at the very least outwardly seems to be already closely centered on Doom. The studio launched Doom: The Dark Ages in 2025 and an expansion to the game on July 7, 2026. Regardless of the motive, the cuts at Xbox aren’t over: Whereas Microsoft eradicated 1,600 roles alongside the announcement that Xbox is restructuring, it nonetheless plans to put off one other 1,600 workers over the approaching months.
