John Carmack on id Software Layoffs: Beloved Games Must Still Perform

John Carmack has weighed in on the major round of layoffs hitting Doom developer id Software, saying he feels sadness rather than “anger or outrage” as the studio’s workforce shrinks.

Key takeaways

• A Texas WARN filing reports 96 layoffs at id Software in Richardson, with an additional 40 remote positions cut.
• Carmack says he’s disappointed, not furious, about what’s happening to the company.
• The job cuts are tied to a broader “reset” underway under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
• Microsoft’s shake-up began with 1,600 roles eliminated on Monday, with another 1,600 expected before the end of the current fiscal year.
• Carmack argues that games must succeed financially over the long term, not just earn fan love.

WARN notice details the id Software cuts

On Wednesday, a WARN notice filed in Texas—reported by Game Developer—stated that 96 employees were laid off at id Software’s Richardson, Texas location. Richardson is the home base for the studio, and the notice also mentions the removal of 40 remote roles. In addition, multiple reports claim roughly half of the staff have been impacted.

These reductions are happening during a wider restructuring of Microsoft’s gaming organization under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. The “reset” reportedly kicked off earlier this week with 1,600 staff losing their jobs on Monday, and another 1,600 layoffs are expected during the remainder of the current financial year. Beyond id Software, four Xbox studios have already closed down, with more studios said to be next.

Carmack’s reaction and his “marginal business” argument

Carmack co-founded id Software in 1991 alongside John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack. He later took to social media, describing his view that the studio had become a “marginal business” for Microsoft. In his view, there isn’t a clear path for id to earn more money from its games—an opinion that helps explain why the layoffs are landing now.

Here’s the full statement Carmack shared:

Xbox Games Series Tier List

There’s a lot to unpack in Carmack’s comments. First is his suggestion that id Software amounted to a “marginal business” for Microsoft. If you look at Microsoft’s scale—at least in terms of last fiscal-year revenue of $281.72 billion—then id Software can appear relatively minor from the corporate perspective. Many other Xbox studios likely face a similar evaluation when measured against Microsoft’s overall numbers.

That said, id Software stands out for output compared with some other Xbox teams. The 2016 Doom reboot landed well with players, even if 2019’s Rage 2 didn’t quite hit the mark. Doom Eternal arrived in 2020, just a year later, and helped bring fans back into the fold. In 2022, Quake Champions was released, though it has often been seen as a more unusual entry. More recently, Doom: The Dark Ages—released last year—was described as great fun. While these Doom-era releases may not have moved units at Call of Duty’s scale, they still clearly left an impression.

Carmack also referenced his belief that Minecraft revenues have helped carry other studios. That line comes from a broader discussion tied to the Xbox “reset” plan and recent reporting about what’s been happening internally. The idea is that, in many large media organizations, a small number of massive hits keep the overall operation running—funding experimentation, risk-taking, and the rebooting of older first-person shooter properties.

Perhaps the sharpest point in Carmack’s statement is his claim that long-term production depends on games succeeding, not merely being loved. Read plainly, he’s arguing that id’s recent releases—spanning from the 2016 Doom reboot up through this month’s Dark Ages DLC—haven’t delivered enough commercial results to justify ongoing investment at the same scale. In his framing, player affection alone isn’t enough; revenue is what ultimately determines whether the studio keeps growing. That interpretation is also why layoffs in 2026 are treated as a logical outcome.

Microsoft doesn’t publicly share sales totals for its games, and it also doesn’t disclose studio-level financials, so it’s hard to know what id Software’s internal position looked like before this year began. However, GamesBeat previously reported that id was exploring new concepts, including an original IP with a John Wick-like tone, a new Perfect Dark project, and another Doom built around multiplayer and co-op. One possible issue, as some observers see it, is that id may not have had a new release ready to move into production immediately before The Dark Ages launched. Whatever the exact truth, the studio’s future is now uncertain, with some fans concerned that id could be pushed into a support role rather than remaining a full-scale development destination.

Earlier this week, John Romero also took to social media to back affected id Software staff, urging that the studio’s legacy be preserved. He said, “Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein are not easy names to carry on, especially in today’s industry,” adding that “The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.”

Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].