Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

gamefromscratch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 628 posts

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#141

Post by pjc50 »

bix6 wrote: post #115
georgeecollins wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but Scott Miller said "most if not all" coders at ID were laid off. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-layoffs-july-2026 I hope the industry will be in a better place in a few years. There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture.

> There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture Why are the little devs selling to the big companies in the first place then? If you’re crushing it as an Indie studio why wouldn’t you stay that way knowing how big tech acts?

The directors like money. And are probably beholden to their investors.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#142

Post by oreally »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #98
delduca wrote: post #6

Next: Blizzard

A big chunks of Blizzard has already pre-emptively unionized for this exact reason.

I think it's their first big test of a layoff? Am interested to see how this plays out.

In any case, WoW has been stagnating for quite some time even before the merger. The devs act as though everything is slow because it needs to be. Classic+ could've been much better.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#143

Post by whateveracct »

ndiddy wrote: post #19

I think we'll see stuff like this continue to happen over time. As a game company, having your own engine means that you have to be able to cultivate internal expertise in your tooling. Your employees will know this and could do bad things like ask for more money because they know that replacing them would significantly hurt productivity. Meanwhile, laying off your whole engine team and switching to UE5 means that yo…

it also makes your games worse. those general purpose engines all have a smell to them.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#144

Post by throwaway27448 »

lenerdenator wrote: post #80
eightysixfour wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think this is the wrong diagnosis of this situation. The studios in Microsoft gaming appear to have been given a lot of room to take risks under previous leadership, build passion projects, etc. while letting big franchises sit on the side. Those things ended up being anywhere from abject failures to small successes - where some players and critics loved them - but most don't seem to be commercial successe…

The thing is, every time you take a swing on one of those big IPs, you take a risk. Sure, you can do well: Skyrim was a big step up from Oblivion, for example. But you can also screw things up (see: Halo), or fall into the trap that Valve has fallen into with Half-Life 3 where the expectations of the public can never be truly met. I think what they want to do is make the next WoW. Low-risk, customer lock-in, people i…

> I think what they want to do is make the next WoW. Low-risk, customer lock-in, people identifying themselves with their consumption of the IP to an almost ludicrous degree.

Sure, who doesn't want that? You don't get there by gutting the veterans who can rapidly iterate and know the technology and gaming landscape well. In my eye these kinds of layoffs are simply their giving up.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#145

Post by LadyCailin »

SurgeArrest wrote: post #46

Microsoft EEE at its best: gobble up all game studios and then kill them. Microsoft needs to be split, it should been split years ago, but now more than ever.

I don’t think that applies here. They don’t have a monopoly on gaming, there are major competitors in the space, from Sony and Nintendo, as well as Steam/Indie devs. Buying some studios might be anticompetitive in some minor ways, for instance if you’re a huge elder scrolls or fallout fan, but there’s just too many games out there for that to possibly be a viable strategy at a macroscopic level.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#146

Post by blanched »

pfdietz wrote: post #76
jacksnipe wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are downsides, it’s just that it’s the best move from a business perspective. That doesn’t make it the best move from any other angle.

It delivers more value to customers while consuming less resources. Why isn't that a better move than something that costs more and delivers less?

What are you basing “it delivers more value to customers” on?

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#147

Post by starkparker »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #74
eightysixfour wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it was mentioned in the article. I just don't count a tweet from an "insider" as particularly strong evidence anymore.

Miller has a history with id, and has probably gotten numerous reports directly from boots on the ground in the company.

Sounds like Digital Foundry's also looking into it, without much detail or confirmation: https://bsky.app/profile/dark1x.bsky.social/post/3mpyvnrbwds...

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#148

Post by thewebguyd »

georgeecollins wrote: post #49
eightysixfour wrote: post #13

There's no real evidence in here that the IDTech team or the "coders" were specifically let go. I'm not saying it didn't happen but the article is just raging at the idea of it happening without presenting any evidence of it. I can't help but think the industry will be better off in a few years after this Xbox "restructure." That's a lot of knowledge and talent that's no longer stuck in 14 layers of middle management…

Not the OP, but Scott Miller said "most if not all" coders at ID were laid off. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-layoffs-july-2026 I hope the industry will be in a better place in a few years. There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture.

The industry could have been in a better place already if the DOJ hadn't allowed Microsoft to buy up all these studios.

I have near zero hope we'll see any meaningful antitrust action in the future either without a complete overhaul of the incentives in politics.

Xbox div's annual revenue is $23 billion. Its big enough to be its own company and sit upper-mid pack of the F500 on its own. It'd be the number 3 or 4th top gaming company globally, beating out Nintendo even. No reason for Microsoft to not have been broken up by now, let alone have been allowed to buy all the studios they did. Don't forget they also mislead the FTC to convince them to allow the Activision/Blizzard acquisition to go forward, and then once allowed laid off 1900 employees, mostly admin/HR & support, forcing it to integrate into Microsoft gaming and operate less independently.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#149

Post by tibbydudeza »

Unreal Engine has become a commodity, and it is easier to recruit people with experience - even CD Projekt Red gave up.

The only major studios doing their own thing is Rockstar and Bethesda.

I would not include Cloud Imperium here because they are forever in a beta state with no clear ship date in the future for their two games.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#150

Post by all2 »

bix6 wrote: post #115
georgeecollins wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but Scott Miller said "most if not all" coders at ID were laid off. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-layoffs-july-2026 I hope the industry will be in a better place in a few years. There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture.

> There is this recurring theme of big companies rolling up little developers and destroying their development culture Why are the little devs selling to the big companies in the first place then? If you’re crushing it as an Indie studio why wouldn’t you stay that way knowing how big tech acts?

Money. Someone made a lot of money selling IP and the skills of the team.
Post reply on HN