⚡ Quick Hits• John Romero is publicly hoping the games industry is actively preserving id Software's history — which tells you everything about how bad the layoffs looked from the outside. [Dynasage] • Apogee and 3D Realms founder Scott Miller says 'most if not all' coders at id Software have been cut — which is about as alarming a sentence as you can write about a studio's future. [Eurogamer] • Windows Central asks the obvious question: how is id Software supposed to keep making Doom now? The answer, increasingly, appears to be 'it isn't.' [Windows Central] • Ars Technica confirms around 90 Doom studio employees were cut — timed, with maximum cruelly, to the launch of the Doom: The Dark Ages DLC. [Ars Technica] • Obsidian's Grounded 2 and Outer Worlds 2 DLC are reportedly safe — everything else on the studio's project slate is in serious question. [Nsane Forums] • ZeniMax Online Studios — the ESO team — has also been hit by the Microsoft cuts, with significant layoffs reported at the Hunt Valley, Maryland office. [GamesIndustry.biz] • id Software's Austin office was specifically named among the Dallas Business Journal's coverage of the layoffs — the Texas footprint of the Doom studio has been hit hard. [Austin Business Journal] • Esports World Cup 2026 Dota 2 group stage has kicked off with a $2M prize pool and 24 teams — go check the GosuGamers bracket if you care about which side of the bracket TI winners ended up on. [GosuGamers] • Esports World Cup 2026 is running 25 tournaments with a $75M combined prize pool — the biggest esports event of the year is now also a Paris tourism event, apparently. [Outlook Respawn] • Esports Manager 2026 officially launched on July 6 — if you've ever wanted to be the person making the roster decisions that get clipped on Twitter, here's your chance. [DLCompare] • Esports World Cup fighting game bracket is live — Xiaohai, Arslan Ash, Go1, and Punk are among the names to watch at EWC 2026. [EventHubs] • Love and Deepspace drama update: Chinese regulators appear to have confirmed that controversial new character Valko is permanently removed from the game — fans cited his 'wolf into the house' marketing slogan as one reason. [GameSpot] • GTA 6 Trailer 3 rumours continue to swirl — Rockstar has been quiet but social media is doing the heavy lifting on speculation. [indy100] • July 2026's full game release calendar has 681 titles across platforms — notable headliners include Exaverse and Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. [GamingBuddy] • SIGGRAPH 2026's Games Summit will feature a behind-the-scenes look at EA Create Capture's film-grade virtual production pipeline for Battlefield 6 cinematics. [Morningstar / PR Newswire] • Arkane Lyon — which got new leadership last week ahead of the Xbox 'reset' — was not mentioned in the studio sales list, suggesting Blade is still active, but nobody's saying much. [GamesIndustry.biz] • Battlefield 6 is confirmed as a free-to-play title per Pure Xbox's coverage this week — the biggest shooter franchise in EA's catalog goes free. [Pure Xbox] • HLTV reports Johnny Speeds has benched CS2 veterans friberg, nawwk, and Lekr0 — a significant roster shake-up in the Swedish pro scene. [HLTV] • Gamefound continues to run crowdfunding for tabletop and board game projects — worth checking if your backlog of unplayed board games isn't already threatening structural damage. [Gamefound] • Humble Bundle has now raised over $280 million for charity since 2010 — a genuinely remarkable number that deserves more acknowledgment than it gets. [Humble Bundle] |