Doom developer id Software was reportedly pitching various projects before a majority of the studio was laid off, including a new Perfect Dark, a John Wick-inspired game, and a multiplayer Doom game.
As reported by GamesBeat – which has interviewed now-former employees about the massive layoffs at id Software that have reportedly seen 136 of its 185 developers laid off by Xbox – after finishing Doom: The Dark Ages' Revelations DLC, the studio wasn't working on a major project, and was in the midst of pitching various ideas, which unfortunately left it in a vulnerable position. These projects apparently included an original game called Fury, a new Perfect Dark, and a multiplayer-focused Doom title.
Fury is reportedly a project that studio co-director Hugo Martin proposed, and blended sci-fi, noir and cyberpunk elements with Gun Fu combat in the vein of the John Wick film series. Another apparent candidate was a western robot survival game with the codename Ironwood. Meanwhile, Doom reportedly had pitches for multiplayer, co-op, and DLC projects for the series that never materialized.
There was also a Perfect Dark pitch reportedly being worked on with a presentation given and concept art in the works. The series hasn't had a release since the Xbox 360 launch title, with the rebooted project from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics canceled last year as part of what seems like now-yearly mass layoffs at Xbox.
However, none of these projects are likely to ever come to light. Reports out of Bethesda claim that Xbox is apparently pushing the company to get the likes of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 out sooner, and that alongside those two, the company is to focus on tentpole franchises like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake.
Of course, I don't really understand why you would absolutely gut the company responsible for Doom and Quake (as well as the studio that made Wolfenstein's most influential title: Wolfenstein 3D) if you wanted to focus on those series, but Xbox and Microsoft decisions don't always make the most sense. Previously, Matt Booty (then head of Xbox Game Studios, now executive vice president and chief content officer of Xbox) said "we need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," a day after closing Tango Gameworks, which had released Hi-Fi Rush – a smaller game that gave Xbox prestige and awards.
