136 Employees Blindsided as id Software Gets Doomspiked

id Software just got hit with a layoff so brutal that even the Doom Slayer would pause his rampage to say, “That’s rough, buddy.” The Texas Workforce Commission spilled the beans, confirming that ZeniMax Media axed 158 people in Texas, with a staggering 136 of those coming straight from id Software’s Richardson office and its remote workers. But seriously, if the studio that literally invented the first-person shooter is bleeding talent, what hope is there for the rest of the gaming industry? Grab your BFG, because this story is more explosive than a barrel of demon guts.

id Software Bleeds, Xbox Panics Hard

Let’s break down the numbers because they’re ugly enough to make a cacodemon blush. Out of the 158 total layoffs, 96 were local casualties at the Richardson HQ, and another 40 remote employees who reported to that office got the boot, bringing the id Software total to a painful 136 souls. These aren’t just random janitors; these are the geniuses who brought us chainsawing demons in half and making hell your personal playground.

Meanwhile, Xbox is sitting in the corner, nervously twiddling its thumbs, because this bloodbath is directly tied to their massive corporate reset announced on July 6, 2026. Isn’t it ironic that a company built on “power your dreams” is now powering nightmares for hundreds of families? The reset included Double Fine getting its independence back, like a bird freed from a cage, and Mojang being handed over exclusively to CEO Asha Sharma like a prized pet.

Sharma herself admitted the Game Pass strategy was a flop and that the business is “not healthy,” which is corporate code for “we set money on fire and forgot to film it.” So here we are, watching id Software take the fall while Xbox executives probably sip lattes and discuss “synergies” like it’s a therapy session.

DOOM DLC Drops Amidst Chaos

In a twist that feels like a sick joke, id Software just released the new Revelations DLC for DOOM: The Dark Ages on July 7, right in the middle of this corporate apocalypse. Imagine finishing a grueling DLC crunch, high-fiving your coworkers, and then getting a pink slip the next day, because that’s exactly what happened to some of these poor souls.

One affected employee described the cuts as a “bloodbath” and admitted they were completely “blindsided,” which is the professional equivalent of getting hit by a stray rocket. They mentioned being burned out after the DLC launch, which makes you wonder: does Xbox even care about the human cost of these releases, or do they just see deadlines as suggestions?

The DLC itself is reportedly fantastic, because id Software doesn’t know how to make bad content, even when their own house is on fire. But the timing is so tone-deaf that it could win an award for “Most Awkward Launch Party” if such a thing existed. Meanwhile, Xbox is probably celebrating the DLC’s review scores while ignoring the pile of resumes piling up in HR. It’s like throwing a birthday bash while your guests are being evicted, pure class all around.

Project Fury Never Got Green Lit

Among the many casualties of this restructuring is a proposed project code-named Fury, which sounds absolutely bonkers and we’re already mourning its loss. Described as a modern cyberpunk noir with sci-fi elements and a “Gun Fu” concept straight out of a “John Wick” fever dream, Fury was never formally green-lit, meaning it existed only in the hearts and PowerPoint slides of a few passionate devs.

Can you imagine a game where you slide-kick a robot, shoot three bad guys mid-air, and then hack a neon billboard to explode, all while wearing a trench coat? That’s the masterpiece we almost had, but now it’s just a ghost in the machine, a “what if” that will haunt our dreams. The cancellation wasn’t technically a layoff reason, but it symbolizes the creative chokehold that Xbox is currently applying to its studios.

Instead of taking risks on cool new IP, they’re doubling down on safe bets, which is like ordering plain toast at a five-star restaurant. One laid-off employee still expressed pride in the studio’s AAA-quality, genre-defining titles, which is a classy move considering they were just shown the door. Fury may be dead, but its spirit lives on in every gun-fu movie we’ll ever watch, and that’s a tragedy we’ll never fully recover from.

id Software Legacy Survives the Wreckage

Despite the doom and gloom, one laid-off worker summed it up perfectly: they’re proud of the people still at id Software and those who were let go, because this studio has defined genres for over three decades. That’s the kind of dignity you don’t see every day, especially when you’ve just been cannonballed into the unemployment pool.

The legacy of id Software isn’t just about DOOM or Wolfenstein; it’s about a culture of innovation that inspired every shooter you’ve ever played, from Call of Duty to Apex Legends. But here’s the burning question: will Xbox’s reset actually fix anything, or is this just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? With Double Fine flying solo again and Mojang under Sharma’s microscope, the new strategy feels less like a plan and more like a desperate game of corporate Jenga.

Work continues on a future Wolfenstein game and TV show, because apparently, killing Nazis is still profitable, and we’re not complaining about that. However, Xbox needs to realize that you can’t keep squeezing blood from stones, especially when those stones are your most talented developers. If they don’t change course, id Software might become a cautionary tale, a legend of what happens when suits forget that games are made by humans, not spreadsheets.

Xbox Reset Feels Like a Prank

At the end of the day, Xbox’s big reset is shaping up to be less of a phoenix rising from the ashes and more of a pigeon awkwardly flapping into a glass door. Sharma admitted the business isn’t healthy, which is the understatement of the century, considering they just gutted one of their crown jewel studios. The layoffs at id Software are a symptom of a larger disease: a company that overexpanded, overpromised, and is now overcorrecting with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. But does anyone at the top actually feel accountable, or are they just counting their bonuses while the rest of us watch the trainwreck unfold?

The 136 id Software employees who lost their jobs are now scattered to the wind, carrying with them the knowledge of how to craft gaming perfection. Meanwhile, Xbox is crossing its fingers that Wolfenstein and DOOM will carry the weight, because they’ve burned through every other safety net. The gaming community is watching, memeing, and waiting for the other shoe to drop, because this saga isn’t over yet. Let’s just hope that Xbox learns from this disaster, or we’ll be writing eulogies instead of articles next time.