They could form a new studio- IDiotFree
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
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Oh yeah! Then they could shorten it to IDF! Um, actually, wait...
🤣😂
We can make use of your studios resources to prop up the Xbox sales via game pass aaaand it's gone.
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Whats gone? We just released a game
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Not anymore, poof! Studio's gone.
Microsoft is complete scum.
FYI, Bazzite works just fine for gaming, I can run Cyberpunk 2077 on it with no problems.
Bazzite is what I went with when I decided to ditch Windows and was surprised at how well it worked. The atomic nature of the distro takes some getting used to but for gaming it's been perfect.
CachyOS has been great for me. Granted, I'm comfortable enough with computers that I can search to find answers to things, so I'm not sure if I rolled through issues that might challenge others, but it's been a fantastic experience. I switched about a year ago. Couldn't be happier with it, and I'd recommend it for anyone who's put off with the limitations inherent in running an immutable distro.
Game plan:
- Buy as many game-makers at exorbitant prices to monopolise the industry.
- Dissolve the game-makers immediately, when they do not perform to absurd sales targets.
- ???
- Profit.
after the last few years where this trend is so clear, it really makes me question the people who are selling out to the big corps when they know it's just going to fuck the company and employees
They looked at EA and copied their homework
Microsoft wants to be bought by Saudi Arabia?
Hire and fire. Sadly more common all across the economy. All thanks to Jack Welch and his fixture on shareholder value.
Hire a bunch of people to create the illusion of growth. Fire a bunch of people to create the illusion of ruthless efficiency. Rinse and repeat.
Realistically GamePass is not sustainable in it's current form.
Hardware is too expensive in general for mass adoption, the streaming numbers they wanted never really materialised (they wanted 70 million subs and they've only got 30 million), and they cannibalised the one thing the games industry needs which is game sales from people willing to drop £60+ on a game multiple times a year.
That and they're just not making much that people want. Their big tentpole release for the whole generation was fucking Starfield, which nobody even talks about. They have no idea what they're doing. I don't know why they even got into gaming. Their only successful generation was the Xbox 360, and that was mostly from Sony dropping a bollock rather than MS doing something right.
* gives all their games away *
"Why aren't you meeting sales targets?"
Gamepass as a day one model is unsustainable.
Games remaining full price forever is unsustainable.
I mean really, what does id software know about gaming? It's not like they single handedly created the FPS genre and one of the most recognized IP in all of gaming history. /s
John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall. These were the founders of ID software. None of them are there now. It's a different company.
That's not to say that Microsoft isn't stupid and evil for this and many other things, but they didn't lay off the people who revolutionized the game industry.
But the devs at ID are still very above average, likely due to that legacy. Their engine runs so well even with all the modern rendering turned on. If microsoft just turns whatever is left of them into another unreal engine slophouse, thats when it will truly be a different company.
Of course not, and Henry Ford for some reason doesn't run Ford anymore. It's still the company that invented the assembly line, and id software created the FPS.
There is institutional knowledge that makes id software unique, and MS is making a big mistake firing so many.
I watched a few videos about this situation last night and have a better idea what's going on.
The shift in focus to the core IPs, which at this point appear to be Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Wolfenstein, could be a great idea, if it means we get one of them every 18 months or so, as vs the decades between main releases the current model is heading towards.
What I really hope is that all this talent being released into the wild gather together to form some new developers.
I'm on the side of this was an insane move by Microsoft that they'll regret, but that's not a great argument.
This isn't the same id software that did those things. This is an id software that has only released sequels rehashing mechanics with no original new IP since 2010. This is an id software who's engine has direct competitors with similar tech.
Now sure they're a vast, highly competent workforce with strong technological knowledge and passion and great systems, and still insane skill, but they're a different company now than the revolutionaries you're talking about.
This is an id software that has only released sequels rehashing mechanics with no original new IP since 2010.
id lost their touch when Bethesda bought them. All the cool modding stuff is gone. The last GPL engine release was Doom 3.
No, of course you are right that it's not the same team from 1993, but they are the ones who fixed the FPS shooting in FO4.
Doom isn't the singularity it was in the 90s, but it is still a well loved and unique franchise.
And as others have pointed out, even without their own IPs, this team has a lot of knowledge and skills that can be applied to other MS properties.
It's crazy how well the original Doom and Doom II have aged. While modern source ports have improved it with higher resolutions and level limits, the underlying gameplay is as fun as ever even today. Other, more advanced competitors of the day like Duke Nukem 3D haven't aged as well.
I'm one of the ones who's been arguing letting their skill go was insane.
And even Fallout 4 was over 11 years ago. Still a very different time and company then.
Chaps, I believe we can all agree that even if Id Software consisted of a cage filled with deranged chimps they'd still be more qualified and useful than any Microsoft exec.
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My word, Fallout 4 was eleven years ago.
This is an id software who's engine has direct competitors with similar tech.
Regardless if they have competitors with similar tech, what they're doing on the engine side of things is pretty amazing stuff. Personally, I don't think any engine comes close in terms of responsiveness and professionally, their work and techniques they have chosen to do and implement on rendering is very unique.
At the very least, who made the call to layoff id tech devs while infinity ward still struggles to wrangle their IW engine abomination?
There's so many games in the Microsoft collection that could have leveraged a shared optimization group similar to PlayStation's ICE Team and they just flushed an option.
Edit- upon further thought I guess that niche would be filled by the Xbox Advanced Technology Group... either way I have a lot of respect for id software and find these decisions beyond foolish.
Oh absolutely, even if they switched every game to Unreal 5/6 (please don't Microsoft) just having a competent team develop engine tooling and support would be invaluable and id tech showed that competency
Microsoft is a dysfunctional organization. It is too big to be competent or efficient and yet because of its size it is allowed to continue thriving for all the wrong reasons.
Part of it wants to acquire talent. Another part of it wants to cut costs. They don't talk to each other, they don't understand the big picture.
The result is the waste of money and destruction of potential. They buy bottles in which lightning had been caught and promptly smash them on the concrete right after.
Shit like that is holding back all of humanity.
Microsoft should be broken up. A lot of problems go away if we just stop letting power consolidate.
Humanity wants ChatGPT, TikTok and plastic straws, maybe it shouldn't be advancing.
This is what I think when I read the "support the developers, buy their games" when the publishers are big corpos..
Yea the developers are most likely hourly workers, maybe some salaried. They already got paid.
Microsoft doesn't but these companies to make better games.
Insane. Xbox' new leadership seems completely clueless when it comes to gaming. They're destroying their most valuable assets.
The new Xbox leadership seems competent. Which the Microsoft leadership quickly noticed and sabotaged. At least that's what I'm stitching together from the timeline of headlines in recent months.
Many aspects of Xbox seemed to improve until Microsoft announced a tighter grip around Xbox recently. Now everything is going downhill faster than ever. It's amazing how quickly Microsoft is demolishing their gaming branch.
until Microsoft announced a tighter grip around Xbox recently
It was Asha Sharma, CEO of XBox, who announced that, calling it her decision.
And CEOs can always be believed. They would never lie for the company. If she said anything else she would've lost her job on the spot.
Well, the Xbox devision is highly cost inefficient, for every invested dollar they have a loss of 60cent and only a win margin of under 3%. They would make more money, and way safer, when they would close Xbox and all studios and put all the money on the bank.
Hard cuts and a strict reorganization is needed, and I know I will be downvoted into oblivion for this unwanted truth.
My bud works for one of their studios makes me anxious for them despite it being one of the successful ones
Can Microsoft run Doom?
I want id tech to be independent, i really love DOOM and I hate how Id is under the shackles of Microsoft.
Chances are the next big id game will use Unreal Engine because Microsoft rather made a deal with Epic than to switch Halo and Gears to id Tech.
Problem for Microsoft is Epic'll realize they have Microsoft by the balls and can start upping the Unreal Engine cut.
TIL
id? the very same id that have us the glorious masterpiece DOOM? USELESS?! FUCKING WINDOWS is useless 😠
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