A Doom developer says Microsoft "destroyed an immense amount of value" at id Software

D

DragonSlayer101

Posts: 1,042   +15
Staff
Connecting the dots: A developer who worked on the FPS classic Doom has slammed Microsoft's top management for the way it has handled its gaming division in recent years. The criticism comes just days after a former Obsidian Entertainment developer called Xbox a "cancer" and confessed to not owning a single game on the console.

In an interview with Game Developer, the unnamed developer, who was one of the 3,200 Xbox employees fired by Microsoft earlier this month, criticized Redmond for announcing the job cuts a day before the launch of the new Doom DLC. The layoffs accounted for 20% of the total staff at Xbox and reduced the id Software workforce by 75%.

Accusing Microsoft of destroying "an immense amount of value," the developer lamented that id Software and its employees did not benefit in any meaningful way after being acquired by the company. He also warned that the mass layoffs could hurt Microsoft as the "entire thing is going to fall apart" because the development teams depend heavily on one another to create quality content.

The Doom developer's views on Microsoft are shared by his former boss, id Software co-founder and Doom creator John Carmack, who recently admitted that his earlier optimism about Microsoft's acquisition of id Software hasn't stood the test of time. In a social media post, Carmack wrote, "My 'Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand' statement isn't aging well."

Carmack, however, said that he understood why id Software was never a priority for a multitrillion-dollar company like Microsoft. "I'm saddened, but I can't muster anger or outrage over it," he stated, adding that he has no reason to doubt the Bloomberg report that claimed most of the smaller studios owned by Microsoft are being funded by Minecraft revenue.

Microsoft also recently confirmed plans to cut hundreds more jobs at Bethesda and its parent company, ZeniMax Media. The layoffs will reportedly impact 166 employees in Rockville and 213 in Cockeysville. The announcement has prompted widespread protests, with hundreds of Bethesda and ZeniMax employees rallying outside ZeniMax's headquarters during lunchtime on Wednesday.

In addition to cutting thousands of jobs, Microsoft is also separating from at least four game studios that it acquired in recent years. According to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, the company will sell Ninja Theory and Undead Labs to third-party buyers, while Compulsion Games and Double Fine will become independent.

Permalink to story:

A Doom developer says Microsoft "destroyed an immense amount of value" at id Software

 
Accusing Microsoft of destroying "an immense amount of value," the developer lamented that id Software and its employees did not benefit in any meaningful way after being acquired by the company.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe don't sell something you care about to known corporate psychopaths.
 
Yeah....... if said "unnamed developer" was one of those middle management bloat hires, I say good riddance. They're just mad that them and their friends are no longer getting paid to bloat the company, and it was a great call to fire this person considering how they went to go and whine about it...
 
The only game they published following their acquisition flopped hard. The dark ages didn't even sell a million copies.

If you want to benefit from a corporate acquisition, you need to produce something good. Or stop thinking a trillion dollar megacorps cares about you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dreadcthulhu
Theinsanegamer said:
If you want to benefit from a corporate acquisition, you need to produce something good. Or stop thinking a trillion dollar megacorps cares about you.
Click to expand...
Corporate acquisitions are no different than any other purchase: they are intended to benefit the owners of the property. And "megacorps" care about employees as much as employees care about corporations.
 
Last edited:
The problem with the gaming industry is the immense success of a few titles.

Those big wins skewed the expectations of executives everywhere. You budget and hire very differently if you think your game is going to make $50M vs $500M.
 
hahahanoobs said:
If you lose your job to AI this soon, maybe that reveals how hands-off your job really was.
Click to expand...
Noone is lossing their jobs to AI yet. Most of these businesses are carrying massive amounts of debt from years of mismanagement by the higher ups. They will never admit that because the executives will lose their jobs and the stock price would tank. So saying that layoffs are due to AI is 1)a convenient way to sell investors on how good AI is after blowing billions of dollars on a product most people hate 2)calm investors down since lay offs are usually a sign that businesses are in trouble 3) an easy excuse to shut the media up and 4)keep their jobs as long as possible after setting the ship on fire
 
Theinsanegamer said:
The only game they published following their acquisition flopped hard. The dark ages didn't even sell a million copies.

If you want to benefit from a corporate acquisition, you need to produce something good. Or stop thinking a trillion dollar megacorps cares about you.
Click to expand...

It did very well on gamepass though
 
LordVile95 said:
It did very well on gamepass though
Click to expand...
That means nothing though.

Even if you were SUPER charitable, and attributed every game pass player of TDA as a new subscribers who paid just to play doom, it STILL didn't break even with dev costs. And after a couple weeks the player count fell off a cliff, so continuing subscriptions cannot be attributed to doom players.

There has never been a game that did really well on game pass that didn't do well on steam that made money.
Endymio said:
Corporate acquisitions are no different than any other purchase: they are intended to benefit the owners of the property. And "megacorps" care about employees as much as employees care about corporations.
Click to expand...
There are millions of workers over the decades who gave their all to megacorps only to be thrown aside and treated like garbage. Hence why nobody cares about their employer these days.

If you want your company to care about you, keep it's ownership local.
 
Theinsanegamer said:
That means nothing though.

Even if you were SUPER charitable, and attributed every game pass player of TDA as a new subscribers who paid just to play doom, it STILL didn't break even with dev costs. And after a couple weeks the player count fell off a cliff, so continuing subscriptions cannot be attributed to doom players.

There has never been a game that did really well on game pass that didn't do well on steam that made money.

There are millions of workers over the decades who gave their all to megacorps only to be thrown aside and treated like garbage. Hence why nobody cares about their employer these days.

If you want your company to care about you, keep it's ownership local.
Click to expand...
It depends, you need to keep a stocked library to keep people subscribed. You could even claim it as tax refund as it “lost money”
 
Few studios can stay true to what they were before after they are purchased by a corporation. And quite often, they no longer feel a need to make excellent games within reasonable timeframe.
 
RudyBob said:
Carmack sold the company to make money. Keep your pie hole shut John.
Click to expand...
Carmack left the company in 2013 to join Oculus VR because the then parent company ZeniMax Media did not want to support the Oculus Rift. He was instrumental in getting VR industry to the next big step. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax/Bethesda in 2021.

Let's not insult one of the most influential and well liked game developer of all time with misinformation please.
 
Puiu said:
Carmack left the company in 2013 to join Oculus VR because the then parent company ZeniMax Media did not want to support the Oculus Rift. He was instrumental in getting VR industry to the next big step. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax/Bethesda in 2021.

Let's not insult one of the most influential and well liked game developer of all time with misinformation please.
Click to expand...
I can and will insult at my pleasure. It's done at Techspot all the time to people that have accomplished far more than little John
 
RudyBob said:
I can and will insult at my pleasure. It's done at Techspot all the time to people that have accomplished far more than little John
Click to expand...
Like who? Who's the one that is well liked in a whole industry and has made immersive contributions over the decades without any real drama? Give some proper examples.
 
Puiu said:
Like who? Who's the one that is well liked in a whole industry and has made immersive contributions over the decades without any real drama? Give some proper examples.
Click to expand...
You have added conditions to my comment. You can't change the subject son
 
id Software and its employees did not benefit in any meaningful way after being acquired by the company
Click to expand...

I'm afraid this guy didn't get the memo. Selling your company is about benefiting yourself (the owner), not the company you're selling, let alone its employees.

"entire thing is going to fall apart" because the development teams depend heavily on one another to create quality content.
Click to expand...

Now that's just 100% naive copium. Young recruits like to believe they're irreplaceable. They aren't.

Musk laid off 80% of Twitter. And literally nothing happened. Nothing.

I know game development is somewhat different, but saying a company can only continue to function in one specific structure is utter delusion.
 
Last edited:
RudyBob said:
Carmack sold the company to make money. Keep your pie hole shut John.
Click to expand...
To be fair, he sold id to Zenimax, not Microsoft, so I guess he's entitled to his opinion.

In fact, he's pretty much morally obligated to express it, as some sort of apology to the laid off employees, at least.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Daniel Sims
Bethesda confirms Fallout 5, Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters, and new Obsidian Fallout game
2
Replies
47
Views
181
LimyG
LimyG
midian182
Federal Reserve taps Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to lead jobs task force days after Microsoft laid off 3,200 people
2
Replies
30
Views
183
Hexic
Hexic
Daniel Sims
Microsoft laptop with Nvidia RTX Spark leaked and benchmarked before launch
Replies
15
Views
89
Fouquin
F

Latest posts

Back