id Software Cuts 136 Jobs; Engine Team Decimated by Xbox Layoffs

A Texas WARN notice confirms 136 job cuts at id Software this week, part of the 3,200 positions Xbox is eliminating across fiscal 2027. The cuts land at the studio behind Doom and Quake, with 96 roles at its Richardson, Texas headquarters and another 40 remote positions eliminated alongside them.

Inside the studio, the damage goes deeper than the headcount. A laid-off VFX artist, Derek Best, says the engine team was “decimated” and that the studio has been “relegated to support studio size,” an assessment that, if accurate, points to the end of idTech as a Microsoft-funded priority. Microsoft and Bethesda have not confirmed any change to idTech; Best’s speculation that the studio is “moving to Unreal” remains his speculation, drawn from internal email and the specific roles cut. The 136 cuts hit a studio that, as of last December, had 185 employees on its books, according to the Communication Workers of America.

The Numbers in the WARN Notice

The WARN filing, sent to Game Developer by the Texas Workforce Commission, lays out a 158-person reduction across ZeniMax Media’s Texas footprint. Of those, 136 are at id Software: 96 at the Richardson office and 40 listed as remote workers reporting into that location. The remaining 22 cuts are at Bethesda Game Studios’ Austin office. Out of 158 Texas workers affected, 146 are represented by the CWA, the union id Software workers voted to join in December 2025.

Set against the 185-employee headcount cited at the time of that union drive, the 136 id cuts represent roughly three-quarters of the studio. Early reporting, based on anonymous sources at id, had suggested “around half” of the team had been cut. The WARN notice shows the actual figure ran considerably higher.

The cuts are part of a wider Xbox reset announced the same week. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff in a memo that the division would lose approximately 3,200 roles across FY27, including 1,600 cuts effective immediately and four studios set to leave Xbox under new management. Sharma called the gaming business “not healthy” and pointed to platform margins “3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses” as the reason.

• 136: id Software layoffs confirmed by the Texas WARN notice
• 96: roles cut at id’s Richardson, Texas headquarters
• 40: remote positions eliminated, reporting into Richardson
• 22: additional cuts at Bethesda Game Studios Austin, same filing
• 185: total id Software employees cited at the December 2025 CWA union drive

“The Engine Team Was Decimated”

Derek Best worked on all three modern Doom games during more than 12 years at the studio. In a LinkedIn post the day his access was revoked, he wrote that “collectively decades of knowledge was wiped out of the studio.” The VFX team, he said, was reduced to a single artist with no lead or producer. The engine programmer responsible for the VFX pipeline and particle editor improvements that shipped in Doom: The Dark Ages was also let go.

Best framed the cuts as the end of an era. He wrote that the studio was “getting relegated to support studio size and moving to Unreal, based on internal email and the roles you can see clearly got impacted.” He added: “Engine team was decimated. Supremely short sighted and brain-dead moves from Asha et all.”

Best’s claim is the consequential one. id Software’s identity has been inseparable from its own engine since the Quake era; idTech has powered every Doom and Quake release and, for stretches in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was licensed out to other studios. A studio that no longer maintains its own engine is, for practical purposes, a different studio. Microsoft and Bethesda have not confirmed any engine change.

I’m still in shock at how brutal the layoff cuts were. Collectively decades of knowledge was wiped out of the studio. The VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer. The engine programmer responsible for the massive gains in VFX pipeline improvements (like all the particle editor work) was let go as well.

Best is a former VFX artist at id Software who worked on Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, and Doom: The Dark Ages.

What 136 Cuts Looks Like Inside id

The specialist losses may matter more than the headline number. Best lists several specific gaps that, taken together, suggest the studio’s technical bench has been hollowed out in targeted ways rather than across-the-board:

All developers with Houdini expertise, used for procedural modeling and cached animation work, were let go. Best said the Houdini-based work for Doom: The Dark Ages “has gone to waste with no one to carry it on.” The QA department was, according to Game Developer’s earlier reporting, “decimated” by the cuts. The engine programmer who handled the VFX pipeline was let go alongside the rest of his function.

• VFX team: cut to one artist, with no lead or producer
• Engine team: described by Best as “decimated,” including the programmer behind the VFX pipeline
• Houdini expertise: every developer with procedural modeling or animation experience eliminated
• QA department: described in earlier reporting as “decimated” by the cuts

The structural result, as Best describes it, is a studio left to support existing work rather than ship a new game on its own engine. That is consistent with the wider Bethesda strategy memo sent by studio president Jill Braff in the same week, which told staff Bethesda was shifting “from a planning model primarily centered on what’s next for each independent studio to one that focuses on our strongest franchises.”

Doom: The Dark Ages and the Day-Before Timing

The cuts landed the day before a major Doom: The Dark Ages expansion shipped. Best and Todd Boyce, a lead VFX artist at id, both pointed to the timing. Boyce framed the unpaid crunch that produced the DLC alongside the engine team’s loss in the same breath.

Boyce did not respond to a request for comment, but his post was reported in full by PC Gamer. He wrote that the layoff was “insulting” to the developers who “spent months working unpaid overtime to make the DLC,” and to “an engine that has consistently been the industry standard for performance.” He added: “It is pretty insulting how it was done, when it was done, and what it will do to the id brand and those who are still employed (for now).”

This is what insanity and despicable corporate greed looks like. What a complete disregard for people who spent months working unpaid overtime to make the DLC, and for an engine that has consistently been the industry standard for performance. It is pretty insulting how it was done, when it was done, and what it will do to the id brand and those who are still employed (for now).

Todd Boyce is a lead VFX artist at id Software; his remarks were posted to LinkedIn and reported by PC Gamer.

The Bethesda Reset Around Them

id Software is one of multiple studios inside the Bethesda and ZeniMax umbrella taking hits this week. ZeniMax Online Studios, which runs The Elder Scrolls Online, was also gutted, according to Wccftech and ResetEra aggregation. Bethesda Game Studios Austin lost 22 roles in the same Texas WARN filing. Obsidian, which sits under Xbox Game Studios rather than ZeniMax, was also hit.

Bethesda president Jill Braff told staff in an internal email that the company is shifting away from a per-studio planning model toward a franchise-first structure. A source familiar with the email told Game Developer that Bethesda is now “laser focused on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake,” with the intent of making it easier for teams to collaborate across studios. Braff’s email did not announce any studio closures, and the same source said Bethesda is not shuttering existing teams.

For id, “Doom” remains on that focused-franchise list. “Quake” is too. Whether the studio retains the technical capacity to lead development of either on its own engine is the open question Best’s post raises. Bethesda declined to comment on id’s future when contacted by PC Gamer. Microsoft’s full Asha Sharma memo is on Xbox Wire; the WARN reporting is on Game Developer.

Frankfurt Is the Tell

id Software opened a second studio in Frankfurt, Germany in 2015, with the explicit brief of working on the idTech engine. As of this week, the studio’s status under the cuts is not publicly confirmed. An unverified Reddit post claims Frankfurt was not impacted, but the claim has not been corroborated by Microsoft, Bethesda, or id itself, and Reddit posts do not count as confirmation either way.

If Frankfurt remains intact and staffed, idTech has a future in some form, even a reduced one. If Frankfurt is also cut, the Unreal speculation stops being speculation. Until Bethesda or Microsoft comment, neither can be ruled in or out. The company has historically kept engine and tool work in-house across both locations, and the WARN notice filed in Texas covers only U.S. roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people were laid off at id Software?

A WARN notice filed in Texas confirms 136 job cuts at id Software: 96 at the Richardson, Texas headquarters and 40 remote positions reporting into that office. A separate 22 cuts at Bethesda Game Studios Austin are in the same Texas filing, bringing the ZeniMedia Texas total to 158. Against the 185 employees id had at the time of its December 2025 CWA union drive, 136 is roughly three-quarters of the studio.

Was id Software’s engine team affected?

Former VFX artist Derek Best says yes. He wrote that the “engine team was decimated” and that the engine programmer behind the VFX pipeline work in Doom: The Dark Ages was let go. Microsoft and Bethesda have not published an org chart or detailed which roles were cut beyond the WARN totals.

Is id Software switching to Unreal Engine?

Not officially. Best’s LinkedIn post speculates that the studio is “moving to Unreal, based on internal email and the roles you can see clearly got impacted,” but neither Microsoft nor Bethesda has confirmed any engine change. The idTech engine has powered every Doom and Quake release and remains the studio’s defining technology until Microsoft says otherwise.

How does this fit into the wider Xbox layoffs?

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff on July 6, 2026 that the division would lose approximately 3,200 roles across FY27, with 1,600 cuts effective the day of the memo and four studios set to leave Xbox under new ownership. The id Software cuts are part of that wider reset, alongside cuts at Bethesda Game Studios Austin, ZeniMax Online, and Obsidian.

What is the status of id Software’s Frankfurt engine studio?

Unconfirmed. id opened the Frankfurt studio in 2015 to work on the idTech engine. The Texas WARN notice covers only U.S. roles, and Microsoft and Bethesda have not commented on the German office. An unverified Reddit post claims Frankfurt was not affected, but that claim is not corroborated by any company statement.