id Software co-studio director and DOOM: The Dark Ages director Hugo Martin addressed the studio’s layoffs during a Slayers Club Live stream, pushing back against claims that the developer had been reduced to a small support team.
Martin said reports describing id Software as having been “nerfed into the ground” or “gutted,” with only 50 employees remaining, were “not true.” A Texas WARN notice had indicated that 136 of the studio’s 185 developers were let go, which fueled concern about the future of the team behind DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein.
“We’re the size we were when we made Doom 2016 and id Tech is very much alive and well,” Martin said during the Bethesda stream. The full discussion is available in the Slayers Club Live broadcast.
Martin also addressed the condition of the id Tech team. He explained that the engine’s engineers are spread across Frankfurt and MachineGames, with the groups working together rather than operating from a single Texas location.
“The id Tech is there, the Doom team is here,” Martin said. He added that id Software plans to share more about its future work when those projects are approved for public discussion.
The director also pointed to DOOM: The Dark Ages‘ reception and sales performance. According to Martin, the game was critically and commercially successful and was performing well against its forecast. He said that success mattered both to the employees who remain at the studio and to those who were forced to leave.
“What matters the most is that the games are good,” Martin said. “So we are really here to just play the game now and celebrate the work.”
Martin’s comments do not erase the scale of the cuts reported at id Software, but they offer a different picture from claims that the studio’s engine work had effectively ended. The developer has not provided a full public breakdown of its current staffing across Texas, Frankfurt, and MachineGames.
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Doom: The Dark Ages
Developed by id Software
DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells the epic cinematic origin story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage. Players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.
- Genre: Shooter
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Single player
- Release: 2025-05-15
- Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
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Age Rating:
CLASS_IND 18 / ACB R 18+ / USK 18 / GRAC 19+ / ESRB M / CERO D / PEGI 18
- IGDB Rating: 84.0/100
