id Software is reportedly losing around half of its team as part of Microsoft’s restructuring of its Xbox division, according to a report published by Rock Paper Shotgun on 7 July. The Doom developer is not being closed or sold off, unlike several other studios caught up in the same shake-up.
The cuts are reported to fall particularly heavily on id’s technology team. Rock Paper Shotgun reported that outgoing staff have been openly critical of the situation.
Studio co-founder John Romero responded publicly to the reports, addressing those affected directly.
I know how devastating it is, and my heart's with all of you
A call to preserve id's history
Alongside that message, Romero urged everyone concerned to save what they could of the studio’s past. He called specifically for the preservation of "code, assets, stories" and other historical artefacts that he warned risk being wiped away during a restructure of this scale.
The report set id Software apart from the studio divestments Microsoft announced at the same time: the company is neither closing the studio nor selling it to a new owner, and the reduction described is a cut within a studio Microsoft is keeping.
The figures come from reporting rather than an official statement — Rock Paper Shotgun described the scale of the cuts at id as reported rather than confirmed.
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