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, Recreation Developer experiences. The cuts at id Software program are part of bigger mass layoffs Microsoft introduced on Monday, primarily targeted on Xbox and its sport 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 response to no less than one in every of Recreation Developer‘s sources, that might 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 below Xbox, id Software program is unionized with the Communications Employees of America (CWA). Whereas Microsoft’s labor neutrality settlement with the CWA meant the developer’s “wall-to-wall” union was instantly acknowledged in 2025, studio workers has but to succeed in an settlement with the corporate on a primary contract. In an announcement printed 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 “truthful severance” amongst different issues.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that as a part of the “reset” at Xbox, ZeniMax Media, the dad or mum firm of id Software program, might be specializing in its greatest franchises — like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein and Doom — going ahead. It is attainable that motivated the cuts to id Software program, however the developer no less than outwardly seems to be already closely targeted on Doom. The studio launched Doom: The Darkish Ages in 2025 and an growth to the sport on July 7, 2026. Regardless of the cause, 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.
