Microsoft cut half of id Software in July. About 20 of those devs now own their own studio, and its first game is a game-show arena shooter called Danger Pay
About 20 former id Software developers laid off by Microsoft have started Hidden Horses, a studio owned by its staff.
Microsoft cut 136 people from id in July, about half the studio, the day before the Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC.
Co-founder John-Michael Quinlan: "It really felt like an attack."
Their first game, Danger Pay, is a single-player arena FPS on a deadly game show, partly funded on Kickstarter.
No platforms, engine or release date yet.
In July, Microsoft cut 136 people from id Software, the studio behind Doom. Studio leadership has since confirmed that was about half the team. The cuts landed the day before id released the Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages. Now a group of those developers has started their own studio, it’s owned by the people who work there, and they’re not being polite about how they got here.
The studio is called Hidden Horses. It’s about 20 people (19 in its announcement documentary, 20 according to Vertical Slice), and its first game is Danger Pay, a single-player arena shooter set on a deadly game show.
Hidden Horses announced itself with a short documentary, and the founders used it to say exactly how the layoffs felt.
It’s just wild the talent that they let go. It’s just wild that they would attack id like that the day before we release our DLC. It really felt like an attack.
John-Michael Quinlan, Hidden Horses co-founder and former id Software tools programmer
It was probably emotionally the worst day of my life. I don’t think I’ve cried that much in my entire life.
Jordan Turner, Hidden Horses co-founder, former id senior technical designer
Former id VFX lead Todd Boyce talked about paying for two kids at college and called it “a layoff that honestly didn’t need to happen.” Former AI engineering lead Daniel Young compared losing his teammates to “a death in the family.”
Here’s what the studio has told us so far:
Microsoft announced 3,200 Xbox job cuts in July, its biggest restructure ever, then cut another 268 in September. id lost 136 people in July. Former staff said the studio had been cut down to “support studio size”. id’s co-director insists the studio is “doing great” and says the people still there are excited about what’s next. Microsoft hasn’t responded to Hidden Horses.
id Software made Doom (2016), Doom Eternal and Doom: The Dark Ages, three of the best shooters of the last decade, and Microsoft rewarded half the team with a layoff the day before their DLC came out. That isn’t a tough business decision, it’s a spreadsheet with no idea what it was looking at. The best thing about Hidden Horses is that it’s owned by the people who make the games, so no publisher can do this to them again. Back the Kickstarter if a Smash TV-style shooter from ex-Doom devs sounds good. If Danger Pay turns out great, Microsoft paid to train its own competition.
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