One of id Software's former employees, laid off last week, stated that the company's official statement does not reflect the true scale of the layoffs. According to him, most of the developers who worked on the Revelations expansion for DOOM: The Dark Ages were fired.
The fate of the id Tech engine is of particular concern. The ex-developer claims that specialists involved in supporting, developing, and modernizing the technology have left the company.
They got rid of almost everyone who could fix, maintain, or develop id Tech. The loss of accumulated knowledge is colossal. I cannot imagine how the studio will be able to release another game on this engine.
According to him, four out of five specialists from the visual effects team were laid off, including the head of the department, and only its head remained in the technical art and design department. In addition, the source claims that about 90% of the design team responsible for artificial intelligence and gameplay also lost their jobs.
Among those laid off was one of the studio's oldest employees — developer number 13, who had worked at id Software since the days of John Carmack and John Romero.
However, Microsoft disputes some of these claims. In a comment to the BBC, Xbox representatives stated that dozens of specialists in several offices continue to work on id Tech, and reports of the complete disbandment of the Texas team are not true.