id Software Employee Criticizes Xbox Leadership

Employees constantly think things cannot get any worse, but Microsoft’s top management never fails to surprise.

In September, Xbox continued its previously announced large-scale business restructuring aimed at reducing the number of departments and redistributing responsibilities among the remaining studios. As part of the latest wave, 268 employees were laid off, and Rare and World’s Edge were placed under Activision management. Obsidian was handed over to Bethesda. In addition, Playground Games and Turn 10 are set to merge to work together on Forza and Fable, and the next game in the Halo series is now being developed by a team led by Activision.

At the same time, Microsoft maintains that the reorganization is not yet complete. According to Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, the changes implemented since July account for roughly three-quarters of the previously announced restructuring plan. Consequently, Xbox employees will likely face further changes in the near future.

Against this backdrop, the Aftermath portal spoke with a current id Software employee who agreed to speak only anonymously. According to this employee, leadership is indeed trying to communicate more with the studios, but these communications do not give workers a sense of certainty.

According to the employee, management’s most concrete message remains the need to increase profits, and to do so in the shortest possible time. The staff member states that teams are being set aggressive financial goals that, in their opinion, would have been difficult to achieve even before the mass layoffs began.

The source also described the state of morale inside the company. According to the Aftermath source, employees have repeatedly thought the situation could not get any worse, but subsequent management decisions have continued to negatively impact team morale.

Similar sentiments were previously described by Insider Gaming sources. One of them stated that during the restructuring, employees try to walk on eggshells because they do not understand what factors determine who keeps their job. According to the source, tenure at the company and previously completed projects do not necessarily protect employees from being laid off.