An id Software employee who survived layoffs says Xbox leadership has no plan — only "corporate nonsense" and dreams of big profits right now

Mass layoffs at Xbox aren't bringing the Microsoft division any closer to its inflated financial targets – they're just adding to the management chaos. That's according to an anonymous id Software employee who survived the latest round of cuts at the studio.

Speaking with Aftermath, this id employee reportedly says "things are still very chaotic" as Xbox works to finish the "reset" plan that CEO Asha Sharma described as essential for the health of the business.

3,200 jobs will be eliminated for the sake of the plan, and after the latest cuts, Xbox creative lead Matt Booty estimates the company is 75% of the way through it. This has doomed countless Xbox devs to walk on eggshells until the other shoe eventually drops.

While there has been an attempt to communicate to the studios, it is still entirely in bullshit corporate speak. I still don't believe they have a clear vision for the future. The only concrete thing they have communicated is they want higher profits, and they want it now.

Previously, it was reported that Microsoft's notoriously high profit expectations had left Xbox with an ultimatum. Assessing the Xbox business, Sharma said in June that "our business today is not healthy" and spoke negatively of margins that were 3 to 10 times lower than "comparable platform and publishing businesses."

It sounds like Microsoft is still teeing up moonshot margins. This id employee continues:

Aggressive goals are being set that would have been unrealistic even before the layoffs. ... To say the workers within Xbox have a dim view of the future is putting it mildly. We keep thinking morale can't sink lower but the obvious incompetence of Xbox management somehow keeps driving it down worse.

Among many conflicts in Xbox's plan, one stands out as especially glaring: laying off devs directly opposes the goal of releasing more and better games, something Microsoft has struggled to do for many years.

It's not just that Xbox teams will be down talent and manpower – even the sterling Elder Scrolls team is bleeding invaluable seniority. On top of that, remaining studios now find themselves saddled with overseeing other teams that got absorbed into their structure during the reshuffle.

As late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said back in 2013:

If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world.

Creatives rightly fearing for their jobs under notoriously closure-happy leadership will struggle to make good games simply because fear, doubt, confusion, and uncertainty are demonstrably terrible for morale, motivation, and mental health.