Microsoft Layoffs Cut id Software’s Game Pitches, Including Perfect Dark Reboot and John Wick-Inspired Cyberpunk Title
Microsoft's recent mass layoffs impacted id Software with approximately 136 job cuts, affecting the Doom developer as the team was finalising downloadable content for Doom: The Dark Ages. Prior to the redundancies, the studio had been exploring multiple game concepts for future projects, positioning the cuts as a significant disruption to the studio's post-DLC roadmap.
Among the shelved pitches were a new Perfect Dark title, a multiplayer-focused Doom experience, and an original cyberpunk game drawing inspiration from the John Wick franchise. The cancellation of these projects echoes Microsoft's previous closure of The Initiative roughly a year earlier, when that studio's Perfect Dark reimagining was similarly cancelled. The convergence of these events suggests Microsoft may be consolidating or deprioritising certain development initiatives within its gaming division.
- Microsoft layoffs eliminated ~136 positions at id Software (Doom developers) whilst the team was completing Doom: The Dark Ages DLC
- Multiple game pitches were cancelled, including a new Perfect Dark, co-op Doom, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk title
- The cuts follow Microsoft's earlier closure of The Initiative and cancellation of its Perfect Dark game, signalling broader portfolio adjustments
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Microsoft has been cutting jobs across its games division, and this latest round has hit id Software, the studio behind Doom, cutting around 136 roles. The timing is notable because the team was in the middle of finishing add-on content for its recent release, Doom: The Dark Ages, while also weighing up ideas for what to make next.
Those early-stage ideas included a new take on Perfect Dark, a spy-thriller game series Microsoft owns, as well as a multiplayer Doom project and an original game inspired by the John Wick films. None of these had been officially announced; they were internal pitches that have now reportedly been dropped as a result of the cuts.
This follows a similar move around a year earlier, when Microsoft closed another studio, The Initiative, which had also been working on its own version of Perfect Dark. Taken together, the two cases point to a broader pattern of Microsoft scaling back or reshuffling projects within its gaming division, a business that includes Xbox and the various studios it owns.
Coverage
- GamesRadar+ — Pitches for a co-op Doom, a new Perfect Dark, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk game were cooking at id Software before Microsoft layoffs reportedly led to 136 job cuts
- Rock Paper Shotgun — Doom studio id Software pitched new Perfect Dark and gun-fu game before layoffs
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