A group of Id Software developers affected by Xbox’s mass layoffs have formed an independent, employee-owned studio called Hidden Horses.
The studio includes more than 20 former Id Software developers, artists, and designers, and aims to provide staff with an ownership stake in their work.
“We’re creating a studio where the developers share in its success and have a commitment to it beyond just another job,” said co-founder and executive producer Andrew Willis. “I think that when people have a stake in something’s success, they are more committed to it.”
Hidden Horses wants to utilise this structure to “empower individual developers while maintaining the focused decision-making necessary to build ambitious games.”
The developer is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund its first project, the single-player FPS Danger Pay. Funds will support “the typical things needed to start a business and finance game development, including licenses, hardware, and healthcare.” The initial fundraising goal will reflect the timeline and costs of the first project.
“What excites me about this particular venture is we’re taking the two kinds of risk that I was holding before,” co-founder and rendering programmer Regan Carver said in a video documenting the studio’s founding.
“One was, can we succeed, which was a given because we were an established company. We had money coming in. We were making good stuff. And the other was, does the company care about me? For a while, that was true, and then it stopped.”
“Whereas with this venture, it’s like trading one for the other. We know we all care about each other, but all we have to do now is succeed. I’ve done the former. It didn’t work out. I’m ready to do the latter, being able to do what we want and talk through what our ideas are.”
In July, approximately 136 Id employees were laid off. The developer maintained it still had “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for,” despite concerns about its ability to maintain its proprietary game engines with half a team.
“The team today is about the same size we were when making Doom (2016),” the developer said in a statement. “We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward.”
“We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We’re going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years.”