id Software dev blasts Xbox after layoffs: 'They fundamentally don't understand art'

Chris Hays, id Software's lead services programmer and a studio veteran since 2010, has gone public with a scathing critique of Xbox following the July layoffs that cut 136 staff from the Doom developer. Speaking on the Auf ein Bier podcast, Hays said Microsoft's leadership "fundamentally don't understand art" and called it "impossible" — not just hard — to make another AAA Doom-scale game with the current headcount.

Hays pushed back directly on id's official statement to IGN, which claimed the studio is now roughly the same size it was during Doom 2016. "There is a reason they say 'close to,' because it is less," he said. He described studio management being handed Xbox-approved talking points about what can and cannot be said publicly, and argued the reassurances are designed to stop remaining staff from leaving. On Game Pass, Hays said id has "serious issues" with how the service is structured — pointing out that Xbox still criticizes Bethesda's sales figures even though its own subscription model makes traditional unit sales nearly irrelevant. He also warned that replacing lost institutional knowledge is not as simple as hiring new bodies: "You could just throw away half and bring in more later, but then you're just going to end up with a mediocre game."

Hays broadened his criticism beyond id specifically, arguing that Microsoft's cycle of mass layoffs is corroding the wider games industry. He said quality comes from teams learning to work together over time — and from being allowed to fail. When id was acquired by ZeniMax and later Microsoft, the pitch was that a large corporate umbrella would give studios room to take creative risks. Instead, Hays says that tolerance has evaporated entirely. He referenced Tango Gameworks — shut down despite the critical success of Hi-Fi Rush — as evidence that even a good launch no longer protects a team. "If you make a mistake, that's the last mistake you make as a team. That team is done. So no one's growing, no one's learning, and as a result, individuals don't have the incentive to care anymore."

The clip has gone viral on social media, and Kotaku reports it has reached out to Xbox for comment. Hays is still a Microsoft employee, which makes the public candor notable. With id having just shipped Doom: The Dark Ages in 2025 to strong reception, the question of what comes next — and with how many people — is now very much an open one.