Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#321

Post by cdud3 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:44 PM UTC

lenkite wrote: post #273

epolanski wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unions have 33% voting power in Volkswagen board. Germany has very strong labor protecting laws. Replacing line engineers and operators is very difficult. Volkswagen is firing 100k employees in Germany none the less. The idea that you can successfully unionize in software..in US..Where you could simply retain a small number of staff key members pay them very well and put them on a mission of outsourcing and milking t…

Volkswagen Group (and in general German manufacturing) profits slumped by ~50% because of banning Russian gas and stringent U.S. import tariffs. The increase in gas costs made German manufacturing uncompetitive compared to China.

That and like crazy increasing burocracy.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#322

Post by lousken » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:45 PM UTC

I am sure even AI wouldn't f** up lay offs this badly, this is mind boggling. Can we replace the management with AI please?

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#323

Post by georgeecollins » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:47 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #233

sdenton4 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? Companies still need employees, and ai makes it more obvious than ever that workers need to organize together for their rights.

Unions have 33% voting power in Volkswagen board. Germany has very strong labor protecting laws. Replacing line engineers and operators is very difficult. Volkswagen is firing 100k employees in Germany none the less. The idea that you can successfully unionize in software..in US..Where you could simply retain a small number of staff key members pay them very well and put them on a mission of outsourcing and milking t…

>> The best moment to unionize wad 20 years ago.

Sadly true in the USA. The number of people working in games is dropping like a rock. Maybe in Europe.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#324

Post by ryandvm » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:47 PM UTC

ptx wrote: post #242

ryandvm wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I was one of the self-taught software "engineers" from the 90s. I enjoyed making more money than I deserved for my special interest and for the duration of my career I was very much against software engineering unionization as it seemed to mostly be gatekeeping for a lucrative and enjoyable line of work. Now I'm 40+ years old and my job has morphed from designing systems and writing code to sweet-talking LLMs in…

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.

To be fair, at this point in my life I think unions are a net positive and probably the most effective protection workers have from predatory management, but the 25 year old libertarian take on this is issue is based on things like unions lobbying states to require licensure. Restricting entry obviously benefits incumbents, which is the very definition of gatekeeping, and it would have specifically hampered a self-taught engineer like myself.

There are enough cases of unions protecting bad actors (cops, prison guards) or lazy, tenured individuals that it's easy for a mildly privileged autodidact to decide they don't need the hurdle - or the help.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#325

Post by wizzwizz4 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:48 PM UTC

yifanl wrote: post #301

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think "the means of production" hits the mark. Most of us programmers have the means of production: a 20-year-old laptop with a new battery is sufficient for most serious webdev and appdev work. What we lack is permission to labour. If I do what I think needs to be done, instead of what my employer tells me to do, then I don't get paid by my now-former employer (which is fair), and then I don't eat (less fair…

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 myself wise enough to know how to fix this, and given that fact I certainly don't want to rule; but I can at least point out the problem.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#326

Post by pfdietz » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:48 PM UTC

blanched wrote: post #146

pfdietz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Customers are willing to spend more money on it.

How else do you define value?

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#327

Post by someguynamedq » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

bigbuppo wrote: post #79

moralestapia wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares about any of that? He was being paid. It was not a charity, it was work. Companies don't owe you anything. (And you don't owe them anything, either.) Work is a temporary agreement to provide services in exchange for money. That's it. Understand how the world works.

Well I hope you get exactly what you want.

understand != want

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#328

Post by pfdietz » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

thewebguyd wrote: post #163

pfdietz wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at its best This looks more like simple corporate incompetence. They never should have made those very expensive acquisitions.

They should never have been allowed to make those acquisitions. Especially after they misled the FTC about Activision/Blizzard remaining independent and easily spun off again, and then immediately fired 1900 people afterwards forcing them to integrate more tightly into Microsoft gaming.

The FTC isn't there to stop corporations from making mistakes.

Subsequent events show concerns of monopolization were misplaced.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#329

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

satvikpendem wrote: post #125

Grombobulous wrote: post #16

It’s painful to watch this because the recipe for success at Microsoft is so obvious. They’ve just been fumbling the ball for so many years that it’s catching up to them. And the thing is they’re not unprofitable. Gutting their studios and technology development isn’t going to help growth, it’s going to contract the business.

What is the recipe?

Doing the opposite of what they have been doing.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#330

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

storus wrote: post #296

One could have anticipated XBox getting slowly destroyed by appointing a young clueless outsider as its boss.

I think this is more discovering the rot left from the previous leadership who sat around for years and years on their bad decisions, and then using the young clueless outsider as the face.