John Romero, the legendary co-founder of id Software, has spoken out following Microsoft's brutal restructuring of its gaming division, which claimed 95 staff members from the iconic Doom studio. In an emotional social media post, Romero offered support to those affected while raising an urgent concern about preserving the company's irreplaceable legacy.
The layoffs landed hard on id Software as part of a sweeping Xbox overhaul announced by Microsoft gaming boss Asha Sharma. Across the entire division, 1,600 employees were let go immediately, with another 1,600 departures planned over the current financial year. id Software, along with ZeniMax Online Studios and several other Microsoft-owned properties, absorbed significant cuts.
Among those losing their jobs was principal character artist Denzil O'Neill, who spent 12 years at id Software working on multiple Doom titles, including the newly released Doom The Dark Ages expansion.
Romero's message carried both acknowledgment and reflection. "I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on," he wrote on social media. "It's a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history." He praised the current team for their stewardship of franchises that carry enormous historical weight, noting that "DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein are not easy names to carry on, especially in today's industry. The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people."
But Romero's most pointed remarks centered on digital preservation. He revealed that he personally maintains id Software's complete early history from its founding at Softdisk through August 1996, including materials and assets that id itself no longer possesses. He called for someone to undertake similar preservation work on the studio's ongoing archive of code, assets, work, and institutional knowledge.
"id's history is critically important to the history of games," Romero stated, underlining the stakes of allowing such records to slip away in corporate restructurings or industry transitions.
The timing of the cuts carries particular sting for Romero personally. His own studio, Romero Games, faced funding cancellation last year when Microsoft pulled support during earlier layoffs in July 2025. That decision shelved an in-development first-person shooter and forced the studio to search for alternative publishers. Romero closed his statement with a reference to that experience: "My heart's with all of you."
Microsoft's restructuring targets consolidation around flagship franchises. Bethesda boss Jill Braff confirmed the company is pivoting away from independent studio planning toward a centralized focus on major properties like Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. This signals that id Software's remaining workforce may be reallocated to support development across multiple titles rather than operating as an autonomous studio.
Author Emily Chen: "Romero's plea for preservation cuts deeper than nostalgia: in an industry where studio closures erase institutional memory overnight, someone needs to be archiving the human side of game development, not just the code."
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