{"id":2086603,"date":"2026-08-10T15:27:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2086603"},"modified":"2026-08-10T15:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:27:43","slug":"they-dont-understand-art-id-software-lead-slams-xbox-says-its-impossible-to-make-games-like-2016s-doom-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2086603","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;They don&#8217;t understand art&#8221; &#8211; id Software lead slams Xbox, says it&#8217;s &#8220;impossible&#8221; to make games like 2016&#8217;s Doom now"},"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-2016\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Doom (2016)<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;They don&#8217;t understand art&#8221; &#8211; id Software lead slams Xbox, says it&#8217;s &#8220;impossible&#8221; to make games like 2016&#8217;s Doom now<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Raising hell.<\/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_image.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Doom 2016 - Cyberdemon\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"doom_image.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=\"Connor Makar avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\">\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\/connor-makar\">Connor Makar<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Staff Writer<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-08-10T15:27:43+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Aug. 10, 2026, 3:27 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/id-software-slams-xbox-interview-impossible-aaa-games?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          24 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/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=\"a94a0135-5e03-4306-9cfb-3f59f6076d89\" data-name=\"DOOM (2016)\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Doom (2016)\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Doom (2016)\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Doom (2016)\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Doom (2016)\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Doom (2016)\" title=\"Follow Doom (2016)\"><br \/>\n  Follow Doom (2016)<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>A lead developer at id Software has spoken out about Microsoft&#8217;s decision to make major cuts at the developer, and has said it&#8217;s &#8220;impossible&#8221; to make triple-A games like 2016&#8217;s Doom with half the staff.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Hayes, lead services provider at id Software, was speaking  to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aA64Ogzm_VU\">Andre Peschke on the Well Played podcast<\/a>. The roughly 90-minute conversation was focused entirely on the studio&#8217;s recent layoffs, covering the events leading up to the job cuts, as well as the push for unionisation at id Software.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Doom Eternal Reveal Teaser - E3 2018\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BgaEaez1Qic?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/BgaEaez1Qic\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Doom Eternal Reveal Teaser &#8211; E3 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s the teaser trailer for Doom Eternal.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BgaEaez1Qic\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;It is hard to make a game that is triple-A, that is like we&#8217;ve done before, with half the people. And by hard I mean impossible,&#8221; Hayes said. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to make a game when there are entire departments that you need: entire disciplines that are gone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hayes added there had been reassurances from higher-ups that &#8220;we are still the same id&#8221; in the wake of the layoffs. The same sentiment was also shared publicly by the studio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/id-software-xbox-cuts-doom\">which insisted it had not been &#8220;nerfed into the ground and gutted&#8221;<\/a>. Hayes pushed back against the idea, saying,: &#8220;We&#8217;re not the same id. We&#8217;re half the same id.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hayes added he believes the reassurances are being given to stop id&#8217;s remaining developers from leaving, and claimed they&#8217;re part of talking points Microsoft provided to studio heads.<\/p>\n<p>During the conversation, Peschke queried Microsoft&#8217;s insistence there are a similar number of developers at id now as there were when 2016&#8217;s Doom released, pointing out that game&#8217;s credits list a larger number of developers than remain at the studio. To this Hayes said: &#8220;There&#8217;s a reason they say &#8216;close to&#8217;, because it is less.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hayes also discussed Game Pass, and the problems id Software has with the service: &#8220;Whenever we see the financial reports that say there were poor sales under Bethesda. Like, what&#8217;s a sale if you have Game Pass? Are you saying poor sales means a poor number of games sold? Of course &#8211; you aren&#8217;t doing a games-sold business model.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hayes also shared his belief that those responsible for the cuts don&#8217;t understand the business, saying: &#8220;They don&#8217;t understand art, they don&#8217;t understand games, they don&#8217;t understand the business model.&#8221; When prompted to elaborate on why he believed they didn&#8217;t understand art, Hayes said: &#8220;When you cut half of a studio, and don&#8217;t take into account how [a game] is made, you don&#8217;t understand that the cohesion between our teams was what made us successful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Id Software was one of multiple Microsoft-owned developers impacted by layoffs last month. As part of an &#8220;Xbox reset&#8221;, the company announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">3,200 jobs would be eliminated, with 1,600 of those effective immediately<\/a> and the rest to follow.<\/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>A lead developer at id Software has spoken out about Microsoft&#8217;s decision to make major cuts at the developer, and has said it&#8217;s &#8220;impossible&#8221; to make triple-A games like 2016&#8217;s Doom with half the staff.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Hayes, lead services provider at id Software, was speaking  to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aA64Ogzm_VU\">Andre Peschke on the Well Played podcast<\/a>. The roughly 90-minute conversation was focused entirely on the studio&#8217;s recent layoffs, covering the events leading up to the job cuts, as well as the push for unionisation at id Software.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Doom Eternal Reveal Teaser - E3 2018\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BgaEaez1Qic?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/BgaEaez1Qic\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Doom Eternal Reveal Teaser &#8211; E3 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s the teaser trailer for Doom Eternal.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BgaEaez1Qic\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;It is hard to make a game that is triple-A, that is like we&#8217;ve done before, with half the people. And by hard I mean impossible,&#8221; Hayes said. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to make a game when there are entire departments that you need: entire disciplines that are gone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hayes added there had been reassurances from higher-ups that &#8220;we are still the same id&#8221; in the wake of the layoffs. The same sentiment was also shared publicly by the studio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/id-software-xbox-cuts-doom\">which insisted it had not been &#8220;nerfed into the ground and gutted&#8221;<\/a>. Hayes pushed back against the idea, saying,: &#8220;We&#8217;re not the same id. We&#8217;re half the same id.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hayes added he believes the reassurances are being given to stop id&#8217;s remaining developers from leaving, and claimed they&#8217;re part of talking points Microsoft provided to studio heads.<\/p>\n<p>During the conversation, Peschke queried Microsoft&#8217;s insistence there are a similar number of developers at id now as there were when 2016&#8217;s Doom released, pointing out that game&#8217;s credits list a larger number of developers than remain at the studio. To this Hayes said: &#8220;There&#8217;s a reason they say &#8216;close to&#8217;, because it is less.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hayes also discussed Game Pass, and the problems id Software has with the service: &#8220;Whenever we see the financial reports that say there were poor sales under Bethesda. Like, what&#8217;s a sale if you have Game Pass? Are you saying poor sales means a poor number of games sold? Of course &#8211; you aren&#8217;t doing a games-sold business model.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hayes also shared his belief that those responsible for the cuts don&#8217;t understand the business, saying: &#8220;They don&#8217;t understand art, they don&#8217;t understand games, they don&#8217;t understand the business model.&#8221; When prompted to elaborate on why he believed they didn&#8217;t understand art, Hayes said: &#8220;When you cut half of a studio, and don&#8217;t take into account how [a game] is made, you don&#8217;t understand that the cohesion between our teams was what made us successful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Id Software was one of multiple Microsoft-owned developers impacted by layoffs last month. As part of an &#8220;Xbox reset&#8221;, the company announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">3,200 jobs would be eliminated, with 1,600 of those effective immediately<\/a> and the rest to follow.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Doom (2016) &#8220;They don&#8217;t understand art&#8221; &#8211; id Software lead slams Xbox, says it&#8217;s &#8220;impossible&#8221; to make games like 2016&#8217;s Doom now Raising hell. Image credit: Bethesda Softworks News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Aug. 10, 2026, 3:27 p.m. 24 comments Follow Doom (2016) A lead developer at id Software has [&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-2086603","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\/2086603","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=2086603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2086603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2086603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2086603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}