Xbox’s recently announced, division-wide layoffs are a disaster, and Doom studio id Software has been hit particularly hard right as it’s launching The Dark Ages’ expansion-sized DLC. Now, Doom co-creator and id Software co-founder John Romero has weighed in.
“I’m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs… I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history,” he posted on Bluesky before praising id Software’s work on Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein – the latter is now run by MachineGames – long after he was gone. “The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.”
Beyond the sentiment shared by anyone with a heart, Romero also took some time to explain the importance of preserving id Software’s history and industry-defining work as rumours of id Tech potentially going extinct emerge: “id’s history is critically important to the history of games. I’ve preserved id’s complete early history from our start at Softdisk through to August 6, 1996, including materials and assets that, as far as I know, id itself no longer has. I hope someone is doing the same for the company’s ongoing legacy (the work, code, assets, stories, and the people behind them).”
Romero’s own studio, Romero Games, faced major problems and layoffs roughly a year ago, yet it was reported in late 2025 its new game – an Elden Ring-inspired shooter – is alive and well. Still, he and his wife believe the games industry is facing a “crashier” crash than what happened in the 1980s.
