A WARN Notice filed with the Texas Workforce Commission confirms ZeniMax Media eliminated 158 positions across its Texas studios, including 136 roles at id Software in Richardson, as parent company Xbox presses ahead with plans to shed 3,200 positions across its gaming organization over the next fiscal year.

The filing, which Game Developer obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission, breaks down the cuts as follows:

• 96 redundancies at id Software's Richardson, Texas office
• 40 remote workers reporting to that location
• 22 cuts at Bethesda Game Studios' office in Austin

Of the 158 Texas workers losing their jobs, 146 were represented by the Communications Workers of America union. It remains unclear how many of id Software's 100-plus union members—organized as a wall-to-wall bargaining unit following an earlier round of cuts—have been ousted in this wave.

What does id Software's official statement confirm?

id Software addressed the cuts publicly on X with a statement attributed to the studio account: "While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for."

The studio added: "The team today is about the same size we were when making Doom (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward." id Software said it would keep building the games and tech that have defined the company for 35 years and pointed to QuakeCon in August as its next public appearance.

How do the cuts fit into Xbox's broader restructuring?

The Texas layoffs sit inside a larger reorganization announced hours earlier. Xbox confirmed it would eliminate 3,200 roles across its video game division, beginning with 1,600 cuts this week. The company has parted ways with Double Fine, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs as part of the reset.

Bethesda president Jill Braff, whose studio sits alongside id Software under ZeniMax, told staff in an internal email obtained by IGN that the parent organization is moving away from a studio-by-studio planning model. "To best position Bethesda for future growth, we are shifting from a planning model primarily centered on what's next for each independent studio to one that focuses on our strongest franchises and determining the content roadmap that best serves our players and Bethesda as a whole," Braff wrote.

A source familiar with Bethesda's direction said the publisher will concentrate development on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. The source added that Bethesda intends to make cross-studio collaboration easier but will not shutter any existing teams.

What did initial reporting reveal about id Software's situation?

Anonymous sources told Game Developer that approximately 50 percent of id Software's workforce was cut—equating to more than 90 redundancies—shortly after Doom: The Dark Ages shipped. One source said the QA department had been "decimated" by the reductions. A laid-off worker corroborated those claims publicly on LinkedIn, writing that the studio had been torn apart in service of "another 'reorganization' of assets."

What changes for studios and teams inside ZeniMax?

The practical effect is a flatter, leaner id Software. The studio's own statement benchmarks the surviving headcount against the Doom (2016) production, suggesting capacity for one major project rather than the multi-team footprint of recent years. For Bethesda, Braff's memo signals a return to franchise-led content planning across a ZeniMax portfolio now anchored on five named IPs. Cross-studio collaboration is positioned as the efficiency lever.

Microsoft did not respond to Game Developer's request for comment before publication. id Software's statement points to QuakeCon in August as the next public moment for the studio, while the wider Xbox headcount reduction is scheduled to roll through the remainder of the fiscal year.