There's no real evidence in here that the IDTech team or the "coders" were specifically let go. I'm not saying it didn't happen but the article is just raging at the idea of it happening without presenting any evidence of it.

I can't help but think the industry will be better off in a few years after this Xbox "restructure." That's a lot of knowledge and talent that's no longer stuck in 14 layers of middle management hell.

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georgeecollins 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Not the OP, but Scott Miller said "most if not all" coders at ID were laid off. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-layoffs-july-2026

I hope the industry will be in a better place in a few years. There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture.

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thewebguyd 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The industry could have been in a better place already if the DOJ hadn't allowed Microsoft to buy up all these studios.

I have near zero hope we'll see any meaningful antitrust action in the future either without a complete overhaul of the incentives in politics.

Xbox div's annual revenue is $23 billion. Its big enough to be its own company and sit upper-mid pack of the F500 on its own. It'd be the number 3 or 4th top gaming company globally, beating out Nintendo even. No reason for Microsoft to not have been broken up by now, let alone have been allowed to buy all the studios they did. Don't forget they also mislead the FTC to convince them to allow the Activision/Blizzard acquisition to go forward, and then once allowed laid off 1900 employees, mostly admin/HR & support, forcing it to integrate into Microsoft gaming and operate less independently.

	▲	epolanski an hour ago \| parent [-]
		When UK blocked the merger this very board flamed anti business old Europe.

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eightysixfour 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes, it was mentioned in the article. I just don't count a tweet from an "insider" as particularly strong evidence anymore.

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CuriouslyC 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Miller has a history with id, and has probably gotten numerous reports directly from boots on the ground in the company.

	▲	starkparker 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sounds like Digital Foundry's also looking into it, without much detail or confirmation: https://bsky.app/profile/dark1x.bsky.social/post/3mpyvnrbwds...

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bix6 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture

Why are the little devs selling to the big companies in the first place then? If you’re crushing it as an Indie studio why wouldn’t you stay that way knowing how big tech acts?

	▲	munificent an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Because big companies can spend way more on marketing than you. If a big company decides to make a game very similar to yours, they can make theirs win by throwing more money into marketing than you can. Do you want them to spend that marketing budget on your competition or on you?
	▲	all2 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Money. Someone made a lot of money selling IP and the skills of the team.
	▲	pjc50 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The directors like money. And are probably beholden to their investors.

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starkparker 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We might not hear much on that until tomorrow, since most iDTech development was out of the Frankfurt studio. If they're shutting down Frankfurt, it'd be worth getting antennae out.

Looking at LinkedIn, I see mostly people from tech (design tooling, game AI, QA), art (modeling, mats, UI, character), design (levels, gameplay), and production roles in DFW being cut, but haven't seen engine roles or Frankfurt-based employees.

ZeniMax's QA team was notably unionized in 2023: https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/quality-assurance-worker...

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pizza234 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> There's no real evidence in here that the IDTech team or the "coders" were specifically let go

Scott Miller said it himself:

> Big day today at Id Software [...] today, Microsoft/XBOX decided half the team was deemed USELESS and needed to be let go [...] With literally the best of the best coders in the industry.

	▲	eightysixfour 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I like Scott Miller but he doesn't work there and "insider" information after layoffs is almost always part of a PR game by one side or the other. Again, not saying he is wrong, just that a tweet from someone secondhand really doesn't do it for me as evidence anymore.

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kibwen 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What we know so far is just that id is "cutting a "significant number of staff":

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mpy...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/1up5pta/95_reportedly...

And I'm not sure I share your optimism that the industry will be better. It might not be worse, because it's possible that Microsoft is just so dysfunctional that id would never be allowed to produce another good game anyway. But the people losing their jobs here might be financially better off just leaving the game industry entirely. In particular, if the engine devs were totally cut, it's not clear to me that there's room for a studio to differentiate itself with a custom engine in the modern day.

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Hikikomori 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What's the tweet it references then?