{"id":2031286,"date":"2026-07-07T13:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031286"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:51:20","slug":"doom-co-creator-john-romero-weighs-in-on-xboxs-cuts-to-id-software-underlines-the-importance-of-digital-preservation-and-the-studios-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031286","title":{"rendered":"Doom co-creator John Romero weighs in on Xbox&#8217;s cuts to id Software, underlines the importance of digital preservation and the studio&#8217;s history"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/doom\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Doom<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Doom co-creator John Romero weighs in on Xbox&#8217;s cuts to id Software, underlines the importance of digital preservation and the studio&#8217;s history<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;I know how devastating it is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Doom-1-key-art.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Doom 1 key art - cropped\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Doom-1-key-art.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Bethesda Softworks<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-07-07T13:51:20+00:00\">July 7, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"7675d439-3caa-4f0a-b86e-1f76730b75dd\" data-name=\"Doom\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Doom\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Doom\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Doom\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Doom\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Doom\" title=\"Follow Doom\"><br \/>\n  Follow Doom<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Xbox&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">recently announced, division-wide layoffs<\/a> are a disaster, and Doom studio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-layoffs-july-2026-id-software\">id Software has been hit particularly hard<\/a> right as it&#8217;s launching The Dark Ages&#8217; expansion-sized DLC. Now, Doom co-creator and id Software co-founder John Romero has weighed in.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs&#8230; I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It&#8217;s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/johnromero.bsky.social\/post\/3mq2gpttmek2i\">he posted on Bluesky<\/a> before praising id Software&#8217;s work on Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein &#8211; the latter is now run by MachineGames &#8211; long after he was gone. &#8220;The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the sentiment shared by anyone with a heart, Romero also took some time to explain the importance of preserving id Software&#8217;s history and industry-defining work as <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dark1x.bsky.social\/post\/3mpyugwk5yc27\">rumours of id Tech potentially going extinct<\/a> emerge: &#8220;id&#8217;s history is critically important to the history of games. I&#8217;ve preserved id&#8217;s complete early history from our start at Softdisk through to August 6, 1996, including materials and assets that, as far as I know, id itself no longer has. I hope someone is doing the same for the company&#8217;s ongoing legacy (the work, code, assets, stories, and the people behind them).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Romero&#8217;s own studio, Romero Games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/doom-creator-john-romeros-studio-not-closed-as-publishers-express-interest-in-saving-cancelled-game\">faced major problems and layoffs roughly a year ago<\/a>, yet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/doom-creator-john-romeros-cancelled-shooter-has-been-saved-with-fresh-redesign-inspired-by-elden-ring\">it was reported in late 2025<\/a> its new game &#8211; an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/elden-ring-walkthrough-8042\">Elden Ring<\/a>-inspired shooter &#8211; is alive and well. Still, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/john-and-brenda-romero-think-current-video-game-industry-crash-is-even-crashier-than-the-recession-1980s\">he and his wife believe<\/a> the games industry is facing a &#8220;crashier&#8221; crash than what happened in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Xbox&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">recently announced, division-wide layoffs<\/a> are a disaster, and Doom studio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-layoffs-july-2026-id-software\">id Software has been hit particularly hard<\/a> right as it&#8217;s launching The Dark Ages&#8217; expansion-sized DLC. Now, Doom co-creator and id Software co-founder John Romero has weighed in.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs&#8230; I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It&#8217;s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/johnromero.bsky.social\/post\/3mq2gpttmek2i\">he posted on Bluesky<\/a> before praising id Software&#8217;s work on Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein &#8211; the latter is now run by MachineGames &#8211; long after he was gone. &#8220;The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the sentiment shared by anyone with a heart, Romero also took some time to explain the importance of preserving id Software&#8217;s history and industry-defining work as <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dark1x.bsky.social\/post\/3mpyugwk5yc27\">rumours of id Tech potentially going extinct<\/a> emerge: &#8220;id&#8217;s history is critically important to the history of games. I&#8217;ve preserved id&#8217;s complete early history from our start at Softdisk through to August 6, 1996, including materials and assets that, as far as I know, id itself no longer has. I hope someone is doing the same for the company&#8217;s ongoing legacy (the work, code, assets, stories, and the people behind them).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Romero&#8217;s own studio, Romero Games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/doom-creator-john-romeros-studio-not-closed-as-publishers-express-interest-in-saving-cancelled-game\">faced major problems and layoffs roughly a year ago<\/a>, yet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/doom-creator-john-romeros-cancelled-shooter-has-been-saved-with-fresh-redesign-inspired-by-elden-ring\">it was reported in late 2025<\/a> its new game &#8211; an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/elden-ring-walkthrough-8042\">Elden Ring<\/a>-inspired shooter &#8211; is alive and well. Still, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/john-and-brenda-romero-think-current-video-game-industry-crash-is-even-crashier-than-the-recession-1980s\">he and his wife believe<\/a> the games industry is facing a &#8220;crashier&#8221; crash than what happened in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Doom Doom co-creator John Romero weighs in on Xbox&#8217;s cuts to id Software, underlines the importance of digital preservation and the studio&#8217;s history &#8220;I know how devastating it is.&#8221; Image credit: Bethesda Softworks News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on July 7, 2026 Follow Doom Xbox&#8217;s recently announced, division-wide layoffs are a disaster, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2031286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2031286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2031286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2031286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2031286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}