Polygon today revealed that Zenimax has – once again – filed a lawsuit against Oculus. Zenimax believes that Oculus is wrongfully benefiting from years and millions of dollars worth of ZeniMax research and blah blah blah. What really caught our attention, though, was a comment from a current id Software about the state of the company after Carmack’s departure and the well-known Zenimax purchase.
On Reddit, user ‘throwaway_zeni’ claimed to be working at id Software and shared some inside information about what is going on these past months. Reddit’s moderators have confirmed throwaway_zeni’s identity, meaning that he’s indeed an id Software employee and not some kid trolling.
According to id Software’s employee, the legendary studio is nothing compared to its older indie self. Not only that, but the studio has been losing lots of talented people these past months, something that could explain why Doom 4 has been delayed indefinitely.
“We’ve been losing top-notch talent left and right ever since the Zenimax purchase, but more so after RAGE didn’t do too well. We’re alright now, but I really believe that this is no longer the place that it was when I started years ago. The office culture sucks ass, and unless you’re keen to sticking your nose up certain people’s asses, or have been here since the days when we could actually ship games, then you’re not going to get very far.“
id Software’s employee also explained what happened when Zenimax purchased this studio (at least in his opinion).
“Apart from giving us resources, they gave some INDIVIDUALS a huge payoff. Those individuals proceeded to stop giving a fuck, in my opinion. I heard that the deal was that they would collect large sums of cash over the course of a couple years. As a result, most of them chequed out, and continue to sit on their arses until they are completely payed off. I imagine once full payoff has been received after the Zeni deal, they’ll leave as well. They don’t care about this place, they care about money. These are my opinions.”
Again, let us remind you that this user has been confirmed as a real id Software employee.
Whether throwaway_zeni’s claims are to be believed or not… well that’s something you can decide for yourselves.
id Software is currently working on Doom 4, however reports suggest that the team has already outsourced the development of the game’s MP mode.
Enjoy!
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IdSoftware Should have not sold out to Zenimax and just made 2 year Doom, Quake releases to keep them going rather than 5 years on Rage, it’s worked for other game franchises.
Well, now we know why Zenimax is pissed at Carmack. They spent a lot of money on id, probably thinking they would keep the talent that comes with the acquisition. However, id had been an independent studio for what, 20-something years? People that are used to marching to the beat of their own drum don’t take kindly to suddenly having a boss that can pull their strings.
My guess is that the company was going to dissolve anyway, so they sold to Zenimax in order to simply cash out. Zenimax, unaware of the state of id, got shafted/ played. If I were Zenimax I would be pissed, too.
More than that, I think Zenimax had a gentlemen’s agreement with Carmack that he’d not leave and he’d continue to work on idtech. Then he came in and demanded they work on versions of games (at least id games) that included VR. Carmack in particular began talking up VR without running it by Zenimax management, I bet. He was used to being in charge, you see.
They told him to stop. They don’t support fringe hardware.
He demanded they let him support VR.
They said no.
He said, “I’m out.”
Like that, he was gone. Then they wept and they wailed and they became bitter with resentment.
And then they decided to make his life more difficult and see if they can’t get a settlement from cash-rich Facebook just to stop making a fuss that could imperil a technology that’s already a little shaky.
Sounds plausible!
I don’t think the technology is shaky, though. The hardware to make it possible has been around for a while – I think the only reason we haven’t seen a commercially-available VR headset come to market yet is because there is no software for it. Developers aren’t entirely sure how to make a VR-specific game yet. They can’t just ‘port’ a game into VR that wasn’t built for it – that would be a disaster. They need to make the game from the get-go to support VR. And seeing how it’s new tech, we don’t know a lot about what makes a “good” VR game.
And no one outside of an enthusiast or developer is going to buy a VR headset until there’s content to be enjoyed with it. Plus the cost of hardware and new games…
Actually, reading your comment again I guess you meant “industry” rather than “technology”.
And who is to blame? Carmack and Hollenshead both said that this was a great deal. Now they both left the studio. What? Not so great anymore?
How many studios were raped by publishers? It never ends well and they’ll never learn.
It never fails to amaze me with this purchases. I’d argue id hasn’t been ID in some time. Hope Zenimax loses all their money to this purchase. So much for my Doom 4 beta code….YIKES
So in a few words, the traduction is: 3 more years of development and a shitty game. Poor Doom you’ re between a shitty developer and a bunch of greedy publishers.
There is probably no one thing that has happened to make this deal suck for employees working at id Software. The truth is probably somewhere in between Zenimax and what this employee is speaking out about.
Real id Software is no more thats why I dont care about Doom 4, its not made by the real ID software. Zenimax CEO Robert A. Altman is an alleged gangster that has been involved in many scandals. The real ID software should move over to
CD Projekt RED because they are not gangsters. Zenimax wants to be the new EA and Activision of cancer in gaming, and that needs to be rooted out asap.
Have a read, employee reviews company (id) :
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-id-Software-RVW4012058.htm
quote
Pros – Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein. I got into the game industry because of these games, and the amazing talent that created them. I came to id software because I wanted to learn from these developers. The pay is pretty decent, and they used to give bonuses before the current management issues.
Cons – None of the amazing talent that created id’s iconic games are left – they’ve all fled the current management team. There are a few issues id software needs to work on to turn things around:
The lack of professionalism: Expect lots of inappropriate jokes, comments and a generally unprofessional work environment. Our HR director quit recently over the many internal issues.
The lack of opportunities: The Management has openly stated in team meetings that when they are looking to give raises and promotions, they care more about how they get along with the prospect, rather than skill, experience, or previous work done.
The hiring practices: They’ve turned away good candidates in all departments because the leads have expressed a desire to hire only students or people they’ve worked with before.
The broken technology: The entire tech team at id software has quit and moved to Occulus – they all left this past February all together on the same day to protest the managements treatment of people.
The non-stop attrition: When all of the teams merged together to create the “new” Doom team 2 years ago, there was around 140+ developers to make the game. Now, there is only around 50. The non-stop attrition has gotten so bad, that they had to contract outside the company for the multiplayer portion of the game, and we have contractors doing a bulk of our art work.
The non-stop reboots and changes of direction: Every 4 months or so, they tell us that the current direction is all wrong for doom, and will re-boot most, if not all, of the game. This means that for over 2 years of work, there is no game to show, beyond 1 or 2 blockout levels and numerous prototypes.
The non-stop spin doctoring: Instead of meeting the issues head on and working for positive change, the people at id are awash in spin doctoring by the management.
Advice to Senior Management – This company is at a crossroads. The last two years have been generally bad for this company, and has cost id software much in the eyes of the industry. If you want to turn this around, you need to make a positive change. Encourage the bright, capable developers who actually produce, and stop playing politics. It shouldn’t be about who is your friend and who isn’t, id software needs everyone to work together as a team! These sort of games might have worked at the old id software, but this is not how you run a successful AAA studio today. Zenimax needs to step in and take over the management to ensure these changes are met.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I’m not optimistic about the outlook for this company
endquote
lol
iD Software is dead, period!
And with it, the legendary franchises, namely DOOM and Quake are dead!
Don’t be so tragic. There is Machine Games who can make a decent game.
Id be quite happy if Machine Games made Quake 5.