A long-serving id Software developer has publicly criticised Microsoft after this week's layoffs, saying around half the studio was let go despite years of acclaimed work.
I mean really, what does id software know about gaming? It’s not like they single handedly created the FPS genre and one of the most recognized IP in all of gaming history. /s
John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall. These were the founders of ID software. None of them are there now. It’s a different company.
That’s not to say that Microsoft isn’t stupid and evil for this and many other things, but they didn’t lay off the people who revolutionized the game industry.
Of course not, and Henry Ford for some reason doesn’t run Ford anymore. It’s still the company that invented the assembly line, and id software created the FPS.
There is institutional knowledge that makes id software unique, and MS is making a big mistake firing so many.
I watched a few videos about this situation last night and have a better idea what’s going on.
The shift in focus to the core IPs, which at this point appear to be Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Wolfenstein, could be a great idea, if it means we get one of them every 18 months or so, as vs the decades between main releases the current model is heading towards.
What I really hope is that all this talent being released into the wild gather together to form some new developers.
But the devs at ID are still very above average, likely due to that legacy. Their engine runs so well even with all the modern rendering turned on. If microsoft just turns whatever is left of them into another unreal engine slophouse, thats when it will truly be a different company.
I’m on the side of this was an insane move by Microsoft that they’ll regret, but that’s not a great argument.
This isn’t the same id software that did those things. This is an id software that has only released sequels rehashing mechanics with no original new IP since 2010. This is an id software who’s engine has direct competitors with similar tech.
Now sure they’re a vast, highly competent workforce with strong technological knowledge and passion and great systems, and still insane skill, but they’re a different company now than the revolutionaries you’re talking about.
It’s crazy how well the original Doom and Doom II have aged. While modern source ports have improved it with higher resolutions and level limits, the underlying gameplay is as fun as ever even today. Other, more advanced competitors of the day like Duke Nukem 3D haven’t aged as well.
Chaps, I believe we can all agree that even if Id Software consisted of a cage filled with deranged chimps they’d still be more qualified and useful than any Microsoft exec.
This is an id software who’s engine has direct competitors with similar tech.
Regardless if they have competitors with similar tech, what they’re doing on the engine side of things is pretty amazing stuff. Personally, I don’t think any engine comes close in terms of responsiveness and professionally, their work and techniques they have chosen to do and implement on rendering is very unique.
At the very least, who made the call to layoff id tech devs while infinity ward still struggles to wrangle their IW engine abomination?
There’s so many games in the Microsoft collection that could have leveraged a shared optimization group similar to PlayStation’s ICE Team and they just flushed an option.
Edit- upon further thought I guess that niche would be filled by the Xbox Advanced Technology Group… either way I have a lot of respect for id software and find these decisions beyond foolish.
Oh absolutely, even if they switched every game to Unreal 5/6 (please don’t Microsoft) just having a competent team develop engine tooling and support would be invaluable and id tech showed that competency
I mean really, what does id software know about gaming? It’s not like they single handedly created the FPS genre and one of the most recognized IP in all of gaming history. /s
John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall. These were the founders of ID software. None of them are there now. It’s a different company.
That’s not to say that Microsoft isn’t stupid and evil for this and many other things, but they didn’t lay off the people who revolutionized the game industry.
Of course not, and Henry Ford for some reason doesn’t run Ford anymore. It’s still the company that invented the assembly line, and id software created the FPS.
There is institutional knowledge that makes id software unique, and MS is making a big mistake firing so many.
I watched a few videos about this situation last night and have a better idea what’s going on.
The shift in focus to the core IPs, which at this point appear to be Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Wolfenstein, could be a great idea, if it means we get one of them every 18 months or so, as vs the decades between main releases the current model is heading towards.
What I really hope is that all this talent being released into the wild gather together to form some new developers.
But the devs at ID are still very above average, likely due to that legacy. Their engine runs so well even with all the modern rendering turned on. If microsoft just turns whatever is left of them into another unreal engine slophouse, thats when it will truly be a different company.
I’m on the side of this was an insane move by Microsoft that they’ll regret, but that’s not a great argument.
This isn’t the same id software that did those things. This is an id software that has only released sequels rehashing mechanics with no original new IP since 2010. This is an id software who’s engine has direct competitors with similar tech.
Now sure they’re a vast, highly competent workforce with strong technological knowledge and passion and great systems, and still insane skill, but they’re a different company now than the revolutionaries you’re talking about.
id lost their touch when Bethesda bought them. All the cool modding stuff is gone. The last GPL engine release was Doom 3.
No, of course you are right that it’s not the same team from 1993, but they are the ones who fixed the FPS shooting in FO4.
Doom isn’t the singularity it was in the 90s, but it is still a well loved and unique franchise.
And as others have pointed out, even without their own IPs, this team has a lot of knowledge and skills that can be applied to other MS properties.
It’s crazy how well the original Doom and Doom II have aged. While modern source ports have improved it with higher resolutions and level limits, the underlying gameplay is as fun as ever even today. Other, more advanced competitors of the day like Duke Nukem 3D haven’t aged as well.
I’m one of the ones who’s been arguing letting their skill go was insane.
And even Fallout 4 was over 11 years ago. Still a very different time and company then.
Chaps, I believe we can all agree that even if Id Software consisted of a cage filled with deranged chimps they’d still be more qualified and useful than any Microsoft exec.
Then why aren’t syndicalizing?
My word, Fallout 4 was eleven years ago.
Regardless if they have competitors with similar tech, what they’re doing on the engine side of things is pretty amazing stuff. Personally, I don’t think any engine comes close in terms of responsiveness and professionally, their work and techniques they have chosen to do and implement on rendering is very unique.
At the very least, who made the call to layoff id tech devs while infinity ward still struggles to wrangle their IW engine abomination?
There’s so many games in the Microsoft collection that could have leveraged a shared optimization group similar to PlayStation’s ICE Team and they just flushed an option.
Edit- upon further thought I guess that niche would be filled by the Xbox Advanced Technology Group… either way I have a lot of respect for id software and find these decisions beyond foolish.
Oh absolutely, even if they switched every game to Unreal 5/6 (please don’t Microsoft) just having a competent team develop engine tooling and support would be invaluable and id tech showed that competency
That would be the coalition. They’re absolute masters of unreal engine, so much so that they help epic develop it.