id Software co-director Marty Stratton says the Doom studio is "doing great" after losing about half its team in the Xbox layoffs, and that it's now working closer than ever with Wolfenstein and Indiana Jones studio MachineGames. Here's exactly what he said, the context, and why this could be a big deal for the next Wolfenstein on Xbox and PC.
The studio behind Doom says it came out of the Xbox layoffs standing, and it’s teaming up tighter with the studio behind Wolfenstein. At a press event this week for Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations, id Software co-director Marty Stratton told IGN that id is “working more closely with MachineGames than ever,” and that the effort started before the cuts.
What you need to know
- Who: id Software (Doom) and MachineGames (the modern Wolfenstein games and 2024’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle). Both are Bethesda studios under Xbox.
- What was said: Stratton says id is “doing great” and is working closer than ever with MachineGames, especially on technology development.
- When it started: Stratton says the closer work “started pre-[layoffs]” and was kicked off “earlier this year.”
- The layoffs: Stratton openly acknowledged “about half of our studio” left as part of the cuts tied to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s ongoing Xbox “reset,” per IGN.
- Where he said it: a press event this week for Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations, the DLC that IGN notes released this summer.
- What’s not confirmed: no new game, no co-development deal and no Wolfenstein 3 announcement. The Wolfenstein connection below is IGN’s speculation, not something id or MachineGames said.
We’re working more closely with MachineGames than ever.
Marty Stratton, id Software
What Stratton said
Asked how id is doing after the layoffs, Stratton didn’t dodge it:
“We’re doing great. Not to handwave the [layoffs] away…everybody knows we had about half of our studio exit as part of that. But there was a very deliberate effort to make sure that we were incredibly viable coming out of that across everything we do, across game development and technology department.”
Marty Stratton, id Software, to IGN
Then the part Xbox and PC players should circle:
“We’re working more closely with MachineGames than ever. We’ve always had a very close partnership with them, but I think we’re at a point with technology development that both teams are incredibly talented and have incredibly talented engineers and we’re really on an amazing path that had started pre-[layoffs]. We’d kicked this off earlier this year. We’re really excited about that. We’re both really really bullish on what we have ahead.”
Marty Stratton, id Software, to IGN
The Wolfenstein angle
IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey flagged his own read as “purely speculative,” but connected some real dots:
- MachineGames has used id’s idTech engine for every one of its games, per IGN.
- MachineGames’ next project is heavily rumored to be Wolfenstein 3, and studio head Jerk Gustafsson has said, “We’re not done with Wolfenstein yet.”
- Sharma has publicly said she wants Xbox’s teams to double down on their biggest franchises, and IGN says Bethesda boss Jill Braff has echoed that.
- Getting games out faster is one of Sharma’s stated goals, and IGN suggests an id and MachineGames team-up could help a third Wolfenstein ship sooner.
- Amazon has a Wolfenstein TV series in development, which IGN says could give Xbox and Bethesda even more reason to make the next game a big one.
Again, none of that is confirmed. What IS confirmed is Stratton’s own words: two of the best shooter studios on the planet are sharing more tech and more talent than ever.
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OnPoint’s take
This is the part of the story people are skipping past. Everybody’s focused on the “half the studio” line, and losing those developers hurts, no way around it. But Stratton is telling you the plan: id and MachineGames are leaning on each other, and this was already in motion before the cuts. Two studios that already share an engine, pooling their engineers? That’s how you keep idTech elite and keep the big shooters coming.
And let’s be real about what that could mean. Doom: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were both bangers on Xbox and PC. If the next Wolfenstein gets id’s tech muscle behind it, that’s a heavy hitter Xbox fans have wanted for years. Asha said double down on the big franchises and ship faster. This looks like exactly that. We’re not calling Wolfenstein 3 confirmed, because it isn’t. But if you’re an Xbox or PC shooter fan, you should be hyped about where this is heading. Let’s go.
Sources
- IGN (Ryan McCaffrey): Xbox’s Doom, Wolfenstein Developers Working ‘More Closely Than Ever’ Following Xbox ‘Reset’ Layoffs
- IGN on X: post
Images: Bethesda / id Software / MachineGames
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