Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#331

Post by yifanl » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #325

yifanl wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the oldest ideas of civilization, wanting society to be ruled by philosopher kings (who happen to be people just like me!).

Hey, I don't want to rule all of society! I'd just like to be able to contribute to it meaningfully. Rewriting some corporate app from React to Flutter, replacing one set of bugs with another, is not a good use of resources. I can do so much more! … but the people most in need of my skills do not have the money to pay for my food, housing and electricity, even if I were to forego all other luxuries. I don't think mys…

Rule's maybe too strong a word, but knowing that you have all the good ideas and wanting to structure everything to support those good ideas... it's not a bad word for it.

Like, it's certainly easy to point out that there are things that aren't being done efficiently, but finding the balance on how to prioritize the right efficiencies is the why society exists.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#332

Post by superxpro12 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

Cpoll wrote: post #283

munificent wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this is true and has been true for decades in the game industry. The other side of this seesaw is: Games are fundamentally in the novelty business. Players like some amount of familiarity, but they want new experiences. Every game engine has a sort of "grain" to it where it tends to produce games with a certain look and feel. The flat-ish shading and floaty physics of Unity is a particularly visible example of…

> Every game engine has a sort of "grain" to it where it tends to produce games with a certain look and feel. I think this is a bit of a myth. Unreal gets this criticism a lot, but it's usually because many studios choose to stick close to the rendering defaults, which does lead to a certain look. To that point, it's probably a lot cheaper to configure Unreal or Unity into a unique "grain" than it is to develop your…

I can pick out a creation engine game from a mile away. Engine "Grain" is a real phenomenon. Same for UE5. There's just something about the lighting and the FPS 'feel' that is a dead giveaway.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#333

Post by mrandish » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

mortoc wrote: post #190

SteveNuts wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I firmly believe if software engineering unionization ever starts to take hold, it'll begin with game developers. There's a lot of money in gaming but the workers are treated like shit, as you pointed out.

There's a good chance that Blizzard was spared a lot of this round of layoffs because they're in labor contract negotiations right now.

MSFT is radically restructuring the entire XBox business. That's not a scenario where unionization is going to preserve jobs in the long-run and this is just the first cut. They've said many more layoffs will be coming over the next 12 months.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#334

Post by georgeecollins » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

anthonypasq wrote: post #277

sph wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m new to game dev and been developing a 3D engine for my game after dabbling with Godot. I read a lot of opinions on whether it is a good idea and it all boiled down to ‘my god, no, don’t write your engine. That said, I did and I am sure glad I did invest 3 years on a framework I know like the back of my hands’ and that told me exactly what I wanted to hear. It’s like the whole AI debacle, really. If your goal is t…

so you agree then that no professional game developer should make their own engine right? because their job is to ship a product.

The framing of "a professional game developer.. job is to ship a product" is very indie. Places like ID, Bethesda, Volition (RIP) etc.: like a hundred people worked on the product and many did not own shipping the product. When you have tech team of 10 - 30 people whether you should make your own engine was more of a question. Lots of very popular games are made on their own tech.

Also, like what do you mean by engine? Minecraft was made with LWJGL.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#335

Post by crims0n » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

datakan wrote: post #213

kcb wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? What unsuccessful game does Blizzard have?

All of them. Diablo is dead. They can't capitalize on StarCraft. All they have left with WoW is micro transactions for old users. Overwatch has been a disaster for years. Blizzard hasn't had a win in a very long time.

Diablo is currently in a bit of a resurgence, the latest expansion was quite good.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#336

Post by gigatexal » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

What does this mean for the future of Doom?!! I hate this. Maybe we should have been sounding such an alarm when Microsoft was buying everyone.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#337

Post by superxpro12 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:55 PM UTC

ActionHank wrote: post #276

markus_zhang wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, is it easy to work with an undocumented IDtech engine? Even a previous generation, say Rage? I think it’s very hard.

How many UE5 games run even remotely well? I've not played one. Doom runs like butter on the switch. Might be hard to run, I don't know, but at least it was well made.

The recent Hell Let Loose: Vietnam beta was a disaster. Particularly the networking. In a game that prioritizes long range engagements due to its mil-sim like gameplay, they somehow left enabled a feature that de-prioritized tick updates for elements beyond 100m. The overall effect was that, for all enemies further than 100m, their tick rate dropped to 1 update /s. It was laughable.

But for what its worth, the graphics were nice. This however, was on a 4090.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#338

Post by superxpro12 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:56 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #238

thewebguyd wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 to…

When UK blocked the merger this very board flamed anti business old Europe.

One does wonder how many bots were involved in the flaming

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#339

Post by therouwboat » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:58 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #271

ptx wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is unionization gatekeeping? I honestly don't understand what you mean. I can't see any disadvantage for the employees in joining a union.

The basic principle is everyone gets the same pay, meaning if you are someone who wants to put in a lot of work to rise up quickly, it won't happen.

I don't know how things work in your country, but here in europe union sets minimum wage for a position/skill level. If you work more, you get paid more in overtime pay, if you are more skilled, usually you have higher wage.

And atleast in my work, everyone is paid more than minimum.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#340

Post by georgeecollins » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:59 PM UTC

sph wrote: post #289

anthonypasq wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so you agree then that no professional game developer should make their own engine right? because their job is to ship a product.

Craft > sales. Great craftsmanship always sells, so in the long run it is not a bad investment. If your goal is to sell a game in 3 months, sure, but not even Unreal Engine will magically turn a rushed game into a good product. 90% of the development time is making a fun game in the first place, and you’re on your own there.

>> Craft > sales. Great craftsmanship always sells,

That is exactly how I perceived the game industry to be before I worked in it. Now I know that there are many objectively excellent or even innovative or influential games that do not sell, or also do not sell well enough to support their development costs.