Since DOOM developer id Software has been hit particularly hard by recent layoffs across Xbox, some have believed that the studio might decide to switch over from its in-house id Tech engine to the more widely available Unreal Engine 5. Executive producer Marty Stratton, however, has denied this, and said that the company wants to continue to be a “tech powerhouse” and that “we’re all in on id tech”.
“We’re all in on id Tech; we’re not moving to Unreal Engine. We had a meeting yesterday with five or six tech directors; sometimes you wish that the audience could’ve been in that tech meeting to see some of the excitement around some of this stuff. I don’t think people should worry; we’re going to continue to be a tech powerhouse moving forward,” said Stratton in a statement to Windows Central.
Speaking about the future of id Software and its work on the DOOM franchise, Stratton spoke about how id Software has typically held on to its resolve to ensure that it delivers high-quality projects for its fans. He even brought up the fact that 2004’s Doom 3 was developed with 19 employees. Keeping this in mind, he continues to remain quite optimistic about the studio’s future.
“As hard as it’s been, you know, over the course of the last month to have friends and long-time colleagues leave. I’ve been here 26 years now. This was my 26th anniversary. When I started, we were 12 people. We finished Doom 3 with 19 people. And again, I know it’s a long time ago. That’s an old game. Things change; we go through lots of transitions, but every single dev project is different from, you know, this combination of people, technological capability, and then marrying that to a design ambition. And I really believe in our team’s ability to create amazing work moving forward.”
Stratton also spoke about the positive impact the recent QuakeCon has had on the studio, noting that seeing and interacting with id Software’s fans worked as a morale boost.
“It was nice to be able to kind of share with attendees that, ‘you know, hey, we’re doing fine. It’s tough, but we’re going to move forward.’ We’ve always persevered as a studio. We’re going to again, we’re going to continue to make great games with great technology. And, like always, you know, we really appreciate the passion and support that they bring to us and the fuel that that gives us.”
Stratton’s statements about id Tech fall in line with reports from last month indicating that Xbox wanted the studio to continue working on its proprietary engine. While there have been plenty of questions raised regarding id’s capability of working on id Tech, especially with layoffs reportedly hitting several key members of the engineering team, reports have noted that there are still plans to continue working on the engine.
While it is not uncommon to see many studios opt for Unreal Engine these days, id Software has traditionally been a technological powerhouse thanks to its in-house engine, which has powered a variety of games over the years, from Quake to Call of Duty. Even Half-Life was built using a fork of the engine dubbed GoldSrc.
