Id Software co-founder John Carmack has responded to the news that the Doom and Quake studio has been struck with significant layoffs as part of Xbox’s big business ‘reset’.
Earlier this week, a WARN notice filed in Texas indicated that 96 workers have been laid off in Richardson, Texas, where Id is based, and a further 40 remote roles have been cut.
Carmack, who was the lead programmer of Id’s classic games, wrote on X that he was saddened by the news, but conceded that he was struggling to feel anger without knowing the full details.
“I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs,” he wrote. “My ‘Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand’ statement isn’t aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month.”
He continued: “I’m saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective.
“I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios,” he added, referencing a claim made in a Bloomberg article.
“To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved. Games are competing with every other option for spending your leisure time and money, and the competition is brutal.”
‘You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots’
Carmack said he couldn’t “rule out the possibility that executives are idiots”, but added that he felt that “shouldn’t be your default belief”.
“I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id games,” he wrote. “Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy? Could they have created more things for fans to buy? Could they have cost effectively marketed in a way that reached more players that would have loved and bought the games?
“Could they have changed the game designs and broadened the appeal to more players without alienating existing ones? 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 rallies through.”
Former Id Software studio head, Tim Willits replied: “You said it well, John.”
Four years after Id was sold to Bethesda parent ZeniMax, Carmack left Id Software in 2013 to join VR firm Oculus as their CTO. In 2022, he left Oculus to work on his artificial general intelligence startup, Keen Technologies.
Asked by an X user if he would consider buying back Id Software or its IP, Carmack responded: “I’m sure they value the IP at substantially more than my personal net worth, even if it was just sitting on a shelf for potential future use. Regardless, I don’t think I am the right person to lead a modern game studio.”
