Chris Hays, a lead services programmer at id Software who has spent 16 years at the studio, criticized Xbox management after layoffs affected a large portion of the team behind Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein.
Speaking with the Auf ein Bier YouTube channel, Hays argued that Xbox’s corporate priorities do not fit the way major games are created. “They fundamentally don’t understand art. They don’t understand games. They don’t understand that business model,” he said.
Hays specifically pointed to the pressure of reporting results by fiscal quarter or year. Projects such as DOOM: The Dark Ages can take years to develop, while short-term financial targets reward decisions that may not support a game’s long-term production.
Hays questions who will maintain id Tech
Xbox’s latest gaming cuts affected 1,600 people, with another 1,600 job losses still pending. Reports that id Software had lost about half its staff raised concerns about whether the studio could continue making games on the same scale as its recent releases.
Hays said the issue goes beyond the number of people remaining. If entire departments have been removed, he questioned who will handle work such as skyboxes, infrastructure, and engine maintenance.
“Who will do that work now?” Hays asked. “How are we going to maintain infrastructure when we get rid of our infrastructure team? How are we going to maintain our engine when so much of our engine team is let go?”
He summarized the situation by saying, “we’re not the same iD, we’re half the same iD.”
id Software leadership has disputed the worst reports
Earlier in July, id Software’s response to the layoffs offered a different picture. Co-studio director and DOOM: The Dark Ages director Hugo Martin rejected claims that the studio had been gutted, saying its remaining team was comparable in size to the group that made DOOM (2016) and that id Tech remained in good shape.
Hays’ comments show that the layoffs still look very different from inside the studio. While Martin has defended id Software’s ability to continue its work, Hays is questioning how the team can cover every discipline needed for a game of The Dark Ages‘ scope after so many roles were removed.
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