Doom 4 feature

id Software Employee: “We’ve been losing top-notch talent ever since the Zenimax purchase”


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!