id Software
id Software was founded in 1991 by John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake made its name, and its engines, now called id Tech, were licensed to other studios and became the root of a family tree that runs through Half-Life and Call of Duty. ZeniMax bought id in 2009, and it has been part of Microsoft since 2021.
History
- 1 February 1991. id Software founded in Shreveport, Louisiana, by John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack.
- 1992. Wolfenstein 3D raised the palette to 256-color VGA and adopted raycasting.
- 22 June 1996. Quake released; creative differences led John Romero to leave after launch.
- 24 June 2009. ZeniMax Media (owner of Bethesda Softworks) announced the acquisition of id Software.
- 2011. id moved from the Mesquite office to Richardson, Texas.
- March 2021. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media for US$7.5 billion; id became part of Microsoft Gaming.
- July 2026. Microsoft cut 3,200 Xbox jobs; Polygon reported that id Software was cut roughly in half.
Engines
- id Tech (in-house): Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, Doom: The Dark Ages
In their words
competitive advantage and we want to keep it within games we publish
Todd Hollenshead, then-CEO of id Software. Source: Wikipedia.
id Software games on Gamenator
Each game links to its article; engines and genres link to our pages.
| Game | Engine | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Doom | id Tech | Boomer shooter |
| Doom (2016) | id Tech | |
| Doom 3 | id Tech | |
| Doom Eternal | id Tech | |
| Doom: The Dark Ages | id Tech | |
| Quake | id Tech | |
| Quake II | id Tech | |
| Quake III Arena | id Tech | |
| Rage | id Tech | |
| Wolfenstein 3D | id Tech |
At a glance
- Founded
- 1991
- Founders
- John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, Adrian Carmack
- Headquarters
- Richardson, Texas, United States
- Owner
- ZeniMax Media, a Microsoft Gaming subsidiary (Microsoft bought ZeniMax in March 2021)
- Status
- Active
- Website
- idsoftware.com
Sources
Checked .
- Doom dev id Software reportedly halved following Xbox's mass layoffs — Polygon
- Id Software — Wikipedia
- Id Tech — Wikipedia
- Server Error — idsoftware.com
Image credits
- John Carmack speaking at the Game Developers Conference in 2010 — Official GDC. CC BY 2.0. Resized and converted to WebP
