YouTuber Civvie 11, a prominent voice in the retro shooter community, has voiced strong criticism regarding Xbox's recent round of layoffs, particularly highlighting the impact on id Software. While Xbox has not announced the closure of any acquired studios, a significant number of staff have been let go across the company. Civvie 11 believes this approach is detrimental, especially to a studio he credits with producing some of the past decade's most influential games.
In a recent video that also served as a retrospective on Quake expansions, Civvie 11 addressed the situation. He stated that Microsoft's decisions have left the studios, including id Software, weakened. "Microsoft gambled and lost," he remarked. "All of the layoffs infuriate me but there’s something especially gross and predatory about bleeding id like this. I know none of the original members are still there. That doesn’t matter. They put out Doom 2016. And Doom Eternal. And Dark Ages, to a lesser extent." He emphasized the critical success and impact of these titles, noting that "Action games that hit so hard that they revived a once-dead franchise and people still talk about how Doom Eternal is the best Doom."
Civvie 11, who has built a following by analyzing the past, present, and future of shooter games with videos on titles such as Blood, Thief, and Cruelty Squad, considers the 2016 reboot of Doom to be his most popular video. He sees the 2016 Doom as a game that defied industry trends, offering a "bulky, brutal, guts-focused and brilliant new vision." This title and its successor, Doom Eternal, are seen as examples of how id Software revitalized a dormant franchise and influenced the broader first-person shooter genre, inspiring swift, action-heavy titles that drew from classic designs.
The critic expressed broader disillusionment with industry practices, stating, "A mostly unrestrained id put out some of the best action games ever created and now it’s going the way of all good studios. Chopped up, torn apart and forced to be less passionate, less creative, less themselves and beholden to the whims of people who would slit their fucking throats for the next sacrifice, which is gonna happen sometime next quarter." He concluded that this pattern is not surprising and reflects a widespread approach to business dictated by investor demands, where "We have been told our entire lives that business has to be run like this or else we’ll all be poor and starving because the investors will have a money-sad."