Layoffs Leave id Software Reeling: Developer Blasts Xbox's 'Fundamental Lack of Understanding'

Chris Hays, a lead services programmer at id Software, has criticized Xbox and Microsoft for their handling of the layoffs that hit the studio in July. Hays, who has been with id since 2010, feels that the company 'fundamentally don't understand art.'

'They gutted id Software,' he said during an interview with Andre Peschke on Auf ein Bier. The layoffs left the studio with half the staff it had before, making it difficult to create a game of the same quality.

Hays criticized Microsoft's business model, particularly its Game Pass service, which he believes doesn't understand how games are made. 'They don't understand art,' he said.