I still can’t believe they gutted the id Tech team.
At the end of the day, Doom:TDA was a flop and took 5 years to make. Eternal wasn’t as good as 2016. Someone has to be held accountable for their games not being hits. It’s unfortunate, but you can’t keep flushing money down the toilet forever.
I had hoped to see Microsoft use the idtech engine for a halo or gears game, but I guess that’s definitely not happening now.
87% positive reviews on Steam doesn’t seem like a flop to me.
Unless you mean overall sales… but in that case iD was completely sabotaged by Microsoft’s Gamepass.
Reviews mean nothing if the game doesn’t sell. It flopped. Microsoft wouldn’t gut a studio that made a successful game.
It’s funny how people flip flop between game pass causing bad sales, and game pass being a gigantic flop that no one pays for, depending on the point they want to prove.
It’s funny how people flip flop between game pass causing bad sales, and game pass being a gigantic flop that no one pays for, depending on the point they want to prove.
I assume you have previous comments of mine about Gamepass to prove your point? If not (which is the case), then this just seems like a weak whataboutism.
Reviews mean nothing if the game doesn’t sell. It flopped. Microsoft wouldn’t gut a studio that made a successful game.
Well, that’s where the point about Gamepass comes in. People would play it there in lieu of purchasing it. Hence my use of the word sabotage.
That all said, I don’t expect you’ll understand this. Your comment history reads like you’re trying to win a Defender of the Status Quo and Capitalism award.
I’ve been following John Carmack for 35 years and if I’m honest I have nothing to add. In fact, I’ll use this quote later. I’m going to use this tomorrow. Maybe (because it’s 730pm and I’m at a pub) use it tonight.
You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots, but that shouldn’t be your default belief. I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id games.
Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy? Could they have created more things for fans to buy? Could they have cost-effectively marketed in a way that reached more players who would have loved and bought the games? Could they have changed the game designs and broadened the appeal to more players without alienating existing ones? Could they have produced the games at a lower cost, faster or cheaper? I really don’t know.
The actual quote that means the actual opposite of the title.
It’s braindead executives that create a situation where one needs to double revenue in the first place.
get out of here with your disgusting and filthy context, good sir.
only the purest and ripest ragebait, devoid of all context, and totally misinterpreted of it’s meaning, is what we serve!
Based on what I see when I look around I will continue to believe that all big exes everywhere do not earn their grotesquely huge “bonuses”. They live in a society. They sell to members of society. They do not serve society. They serve shareholders only.
If only iddqd worked irl.
This move deserves idchoppers
Very true.
I would like to read the article, but unfortunately it seems that the site and its 843 partners care so much about my privacy that they want to share my data between them. So it seems that privacy now means the opposite of privacy. Interesting times.
“You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots, but that shouldn’t be your default belief. I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id games.”
The headline is pretty misleading
So the executives are idiots for demanding double-revenue their games…
quick copy paste from firefox reader mode:
www.timeextension.com “You Can’t Rule Out The Possibility That Executives Are Idiots” - John Carmack On Microsoft’s Gutting Of id Software Time Extension 3 - 4 minutes
“The game isn’t over yet, and I hope the studio rallies through” “You Can’t Rule Out The Possibility That Executives Are Idiots” - John Carmack On Microsoft’s Gutting Of id Software 1 Image: id Software / Xbox Game Studios
While we predominantly cover retro gaming here at Time Extension, we often cast our gaze across other sectors of the industry – especially when news impacts long-standing studios with amazing legacies, like id Software.
I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that Microsoft, which acquired the legendary DOOM and Quake creator when it purchased ZeniMax Media in 2021, has gutted the studio as part of its recent layoff campaign.
According to reports, id Software has effectively been reduced to a support studio following the release of DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations.
id Software co-founder John Carmack – who was previously quite vocal about the advantages afforded by the company being Microsoft-owned – has taken to social media to give his take on the whole sorry affair.
“I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs,” says Carmack, who founded id Software in 1991 alongside Adrian Carmack, Tom Hall and John Romero. “My ‘Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand’ statement isn’t aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month.”
Carmack adds that he’s “saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective. I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios. To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved.”
He continues:
"You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots, but that shouldn’t be your default belief. I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id games.
Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy? Could they have created more things for fans to buy? Could they have cost-effectively marketed in a way that reached more players who would have loved and bought the games? Could they have changed the game designs and broadened the appeal to more players without alienating existing ones? Could they have produced the games at a lower cost, faster or cheaper? I really don’t know."
Despite the pretty dire state of affairs, Carmack ends on a semi-positive note. “The game isn’t over yet, and I hope the studio rallies through.”
I can’t imagine any of the remaining id Software staffers share his optimism right now.
Damien McFerran
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media’s sites from an editorial perspective. He’s also the editor of Time Extension, the network’s newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming’s past glories.
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Exactly this. It’s not about profitability with them anymore. It’s about making the numbers grow ever larger ever faster.
Don’t worry. The title is just clickbait and Carmack is actually saying the complete opposite.
Wow this is right. At this point it’s beyond clickbait and ouright lie.
Why not just take random words from what he said and just make up a complete new quote out of it while they’re at it.
Isn’t that a pre requisite for their job?
