Chris Hays, a lead services programmer at id Software who has worked at the studio since 2010, has publicly criticised Microsoft and Xbox following July's layoffs, which cut 136 staff from the Doom developer. Speaking on the podcast Auf ein Bier, Hays said Microsoft "fundamentally don't understand art" and rejected reassurances from studio management that id remains capable of producing the same calibre of games, arguing the cuts have hollowed out entire departments and disciplines essential to AAA development.

Hays said id now employs fewer people than worked on 2016's Doom, despite id having stated it was "about the same size" as during that era, and claimed the studio still has "the crew we need" to build its signature games and technology. He argued that later titles such as Doom Eternal and Doom: The Dark Ages required roughly twice the staff of Doom 2016, questioning whether the diminished team could now produce anything beyond something comparable to a single-player Xbox 360-era game. He also accused management of sticking to approved "talking points" to prevent further departures, and said he had no clear explanation for why the layoffs hit id as hard as they did, though the discussion touched on Xbox's Game Pass strategy as a possible factor.