Id Software Has Not Been ‘Nerfed Into The Ground,’ Says DOOM: The Dark Ages Director Hugo Martin

Hugo Martin, co-studio director at Id Software, has denied reports that the DOOM and Quake developer has been “nerfed into the ground and gutted” as a result of the Xbox cuts earlier this month.

Speaking on a DOOM livestream hosted by Bethesda yesterday, Martin commented, “There’s been reports that we’ve been nerfed into the ground and gutted and we have 50 people, and that’s not true. We’re the size we were when we made Doom 2016, and id Tech is very much alive and well.”

You have to understand we have id Tech engineers both in Frankfurt and at MachineGames – we collaborate quite a bit. So id Tech is there, the Doom team is here, and we’re excited to share with you guys more of what we’re working on in the future when it is appropriate and approved. The door is open to be able to – I would love to be able to complete [the Doom origin] story all the way up to the sarcophagus.

Chatter about the state of Id Software in wake of the layoffs come from Derek Best, an ex-VFX artist with the company who posted on LinkedIn that the studio had not only been “nuked into the dirt,” but was now operating at the level of a “support size studio.” Not long after, Tom Warren reported that Id Software was working on a new DOOM title and that the developer had not been turned into a support studio. It was also claimed on GamesBeat that Id Software had pitched various titles prior to the job cuts, including a Perfect Dark game and a John Wick-influenced new IP.

Xbox boss Asha Sharma announced earlier this month that the format holder was undergoing a major restructuring that would result in 3,200 job losses.

[Source – DOOM Livestream via Eurogamer]