The Future of id Software: What Happens Next?

This week has been especially difficult for id Software fans as the studio was one of the hardest hit by layoffs within XBOX on Monday. It’s still too early to say what will happen. Game development cycles take years, and with new XBOX leadership anything is possible. Things that were never on the table to be consider under previous management like during the Phil Spencer, and Sara Bond era will now be considered. This isn’t going to be an oped about everything just a summary of what has happened, and what might happen going forward. The big thing to understand is that a lot is being said, and its impossible for anyone to know the current future. Even XBOX might not know completely what the strategy is going forward. Asha Sharma has only been XBOX’s CEO for less than 6 months, but in the next 24 months XBOX will be shipping its proposed 5th generation gaming device Project Helix which is meant to be a Console Computer hybrid for the living room.

Asha Sharma’s open letter to team XBOX about the reset | restructuring
Asha Sharma’s We Are XBOX Message from April

Please consider signing the petition to bring Adam Syncerror Pyle back

The first thing that is hard to determine is just how bad the layoffs are for id Software. The WARN report filing indicates that 136 employees were impacted that reported to the Richardson branch. 96 in office workers, and 40 remote staff workers. id Software actually has 2 studios now the one we think of in Texas with Hugo, and Marty that mostly make the games, and another in Frankfurt Germany that runs the id Tech team. If the WARN report is a reflection of all laid off it might actually mean the id Tech team was untouched completely. Which while still terrible would at least indicate id Software may still be looked at to make full Triple AAA Games. Although it should be said that fellow sister studio to id within Bethesda Softworks is Machine Games who also uses modified id Tech for their own games. Its possible the Tech is sticking around regardless of what happens to the Texas branch. Perhaps the Tech will be used by other teams outside of Bethesda | ZeniMax. Some have speculated that the Texas branch has been reduced to just support staff within Bethesda Softworks, or for other XBOX games studios. I’ll say more about that below.

id Software made it’s first public statement since the layoffs today July 10th 2026. it reads as followed:

Thank you all for the support this Week.

While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.

We are focused on supporting each other the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at Quakecon this August.

A few things we can actually gather from their statement if id is now the same size as they were when DOOM 2016 released that would probably mean they are around 200 Employees right now. Meaning before the layoffs they most likely were around 350 people. Its actually quite hard to find exact figures, and also games go through many different phases. Some people may only be at a studio for 2 years to do one specific aspect, or feature and then move on to another studio. It is just to say these number are always in flux, and studios do typically off load after a project ends, and they then spend 6 months to a year prototyping what their next project will be. Once the new project gets selected studios usually beef up. We could just be seeing the worst case scenario of two crossroads. id was going to off load some employees after the DOOM the Dark Ages DLC Revelations, but then the XBOX initiative also happened at the same time, so more staff than normal were let go after this project ended.

What I gather from this is that there are many studios much larger than id Software that are still support studios, so I don’t think there is a magical number they can be reduced to that makes them become a support studio by default. None of the actual reports have stated they are a support studio now just that they could be support studio size. Also many other studios still produce Triple AAA games just like id Software with fewer people than id Software. So I’m not sure that this studio size revelation really means much in the long term.

Realistically id Software is going to be incubating new projects to pitch to Bethesda | ZeniMax, or XBOX | Asha Sharma directly. If this is the case then id Software might remain at its current size until development of their next project happens.

You might also be asking how does any of this effect Quake Champions, and I’m really not sure. Syncerror has still put in the PTS channel to test the current PTS build, so this does imply that we are at least getting one additional update in the future. If that will be the final update though that is unclear. In the above message from id Software they do say they still have the staff to service their games. What could happen.

Remaining staff at id Software work on Quake Champions in some way continuing seasons after 30, and 31
New staff is brought on to work on Quake Champions
Quake Champions gets shut down after what will most likely be Season 31 later this year. Hopefully if that does happen it comes with some sort of server support for the community.
Contracted to another studio like Certain Affinity, or y’all will love this one Saber Interactive, but realistically they both have the most recent past experience with id Software. Could also see Eidos-Montreal as they have been doing lots of contracting work recently. Double Eleven, Splash Damage, and Iron Galaxy could also be contenders.

So where will these impacted staff members go? Impacted employees may go to other triple AAA studios. They might make their own studios going independent, or they may leave the industry completely. Here are some thoughts on where they might go though.

Retro Studios in Austin (Make Metroid Prime Series)
Gearbox Software Frisco (Borderlands
People Can Fly Dallas (Bulletstorm)
Certain Affinity Austin (Halo, and DOOM 2016 support)
Infinity Ward (Call of Duty)
Raven Software (Call of Duty)
Sledgehammer Games (Call of Duty)
Treyarch (Call of Duty)
Nightdive studios (Many Classic remasters like Quake 1, 2, Doom 1, 2, 64, and Hexen | Heretic)
Machine Games (Wolfenstein, and Indiana Jones, and the Great Circle)
Tech: Epic Games for Unreal, NVIDIA, or AMD

Thank you for sticking around, and I do apologize for the different, or rather dire content coming from us recently. Hopefully we have more positive stuff to talk about soon.