A veteran id Software programmer has accused Xbox leadership of gutting the legendary Doom studio through mass layoffs while failing to grasp how game development actually works.
Chris Hays, a 16-year employee who currently serves as lead services programmer, delivered the criticism during an appearance on the Auf ein Bier YouTube channel. His remarks follow Xbox’s sweeping restructuring, which already eliminated 1,600 positions across its gaming division with another 1,600 cuts still pending.
id Software suffered disproportionate losses in the purge. Reports indicate the studio behind Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein lost roughly half its workforce. Hays pulled no punches when describing the corporate mindset behind those decisions.
“They fundamentally don’t understand art. They don’t understand games. They don’t understand that business model,” Hays said. He pointed to the mismatch between quarterly financial targets and the years-long process required to nurture a successful title. “How can we make this financial quarter or year look good? Those don’t align with the same things that create a successful game.”
The layoffs have sparked heated debate about id Software’s future. Some former employees questioned whether the studio could ever produce another game using its proprietary id Tech engine given the staff reductions. Doom: The Dark Ages director Hugo Martin pushed back on those claims, insisting the team matches its size during Doom 2016 development and that the engine team remains “very much alive and well.”
Hays remains unconvinced. He noted that entire departments have been hollowed out, leaving critical gaps in specialized disciplines. “It’s hard to create a game when there are entire departments that are gutted,” he explained. “You need entire disciplines that are gone.”
He rattled off specific concerns: Who builds skyboxes without a skybox artist? Who maintains infrastructure without an infrastructure team? Who keeps the engine running when so much of the engine team gets let go?
“We’re not the same id,” Hays concluded. “We’re half the same id.”
Xbox has yet to explain how id Software will deliver projects comparable in scope to The Dark Ages with a dramatically reduced roster. The silence leaves lingering questions about the studio’s trajectory under Microsoft ownership.
