The revisions on Doom: The Dark Ages reached up to 17 hours a day. This didn't save the employees from being laid off
Details have emerged regarding the development of the DLC named Revelations for Doom: The Dark Ages. The team underwent significant crunch to release the game on time and at the required quality. Shortly before the release date, the team was reduced in size.
Revelations was released on July 7. One day before, it was reported about a large-scale restructuring at XBOX. The studio lost 70% of its staff based in Texas. A total of 136 people were left without jobs: 96 office workers and 40 remote employees.
Andrew Willis, one of the producers of Doom: The Dark Ages and Doom: The Dark Ages — Revelations, discussed what led up to this in an interview with Insider Gaming.
According to him, two months before the release, the team spent at least 12 hours a day in the office or on work tasks. There were days when he personally worked up to 17 hours. It was thanks to this effort that most of the update was created in just three to four months.
Willis emphasized that the overtime was not mandatory. However, the volume of tasks was so large that the team had virtually no other option. They were given 60 hours of work per week.
Particularly painful for the employees was that the layoffs occurred almost immediately after the project's completion. "You spend a massive amount of energy and time, sacrificing important things to bring the game to release, and then you are let go literally on the eve of the launch. You feel really wild after that,” remarked Willis.