Doom and Quake studio id Software reportedly gutted, leaving standalone capabilities in doubt and newly revealed game ideas dead

id Software, the studio behind Doom and Quake, has been severely impacted by Microsoft's Xbox restructuring, with 136 employees laid off, leaving only 49 of the 185 staff from December 2025. A WARN notice filed in Texas confirmed the cuts, which former employees described as a "bloodbath" that wiped out "decades of knowledge." The layoffs have cast doubt on the studio's ability to develop full-scale games independently. According to GamesBeat, the cuts came as id Software was experimenting with new game ideas, including a "John Wick-style" game called Fury, a new Perfect Dark title, a Westworld-inspired robot survival game called Ironwood, and a multiplayer version of Doom. However, none were greenlit. With fewer than 50 staff remaining, the studio's future appears to be as a support studio for other Xbox teams, such as MachineGames, rather than a lead developer. The layoffs also affected engine development, raising questions about the future of id Tech.