The team behind Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest to unionize as a wave of labor organizing continues sweeping across Microsoft-owned game studios. They join developers across Blizzard, Bethesda, and other Xbox teams in a move aimed at giving them a seat at the table in how things like layoffs are handled at the tech giant.
Roughly 165 workers at id Software announced on Friday that they had unionized with the Communications Workers of America. It’s a wall-to-wall union meaning every developer at the studio who’s not a manager will be part of it regardless of whether they’re an artist or engineer. The decision comes months after mass layoffs at Microsoft left entire games canceled and the teams behind them laid off.
“The wall-to-wall organizing effort at id Software was much needed; it’s incredibly important that developers across the industry unite to push back on all the unilateral workplace changes that are being handed down from industry executives,” id Software producer Andrew Willis said in a press release. “The union is a way for us, the developers, to take back control of the industry we love and to ensure that it delivers high-quality products from high-quality workers who have health benefits and longevity beyond quarterly profits.”
around 40 game developers affiliated with @vgworkers have gathered outside the peacock theater, where the game awards will take place in a few hours, for a “the industry is dead” demonstration pic.twitter.com/xAglNwrKYF
— Nathan Grayson (@Vahn16) December 11, 2025
id Software was founded in Texas all the way back in 1991 John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack. The studio revolutionized 3D gaming with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and the original Doom in 1993. It was also responsible for creating shooter franchises like Quake and Rage. The studio was acquired by Bethesda parent-company Zenimax in 2009, which was later bought by Microsoft for over $8 billion in 2021. Earlier this year, the team shipped Doom: The Dark Ages which was nominated across multiple categories at The Game Awards 2025 and won for best accessibility options.
The wall-to-wall union comes just a couple years after labor organizing began at id Software with the QA team unionizing. Earlier this year, Bethesda Game Studios won its first collective bargaining contract with Microsoft, offering other teams at the company a blue print for what they can expect as negotiations over working conditions like pay, remote work, and severance begin.
“I’m very proud to be a part of this effort to organize our studio, to have a voice in decisions that directly affect myself and my coworkers,” id Software senior VFX artist Caroline Pierrot said in a press release. “In an industry that has proven to be very unstable over the last few years, more unions means more power to the workers and a real shot at shaping the future of the industry for the better.”
