After a new wave of Xbox layoffs hit id Software hard, John Romero, the father of “DOOM”, spoke out again. But this time, he wasn’t talking about layoffs, but an even more shocking news. He has a large amount of early historical data on id Software in his possession, and some of the content may not even exist in id Software today.
All the original materials and files of “DOOM” are still there!
Romero said that he has kept id Software’s complete historical archives from the Softdisk period to August 1996 for many years. The content includes development materials, files, various game assets, and a large number of precious records. He even bluntly said, “As far as I know, some of these materials are no longer even available to id Software itself.” In other words, these precious histories that witnessed the birth of “DOOM”, “Wolfenstein 3D (Wolfenstein 3D)” and “Quake” are now preserved in the hands of the founders who have left the company for nearly 30 years.
Romero’s biggest worry isn’t layoffs
Romero said that the history of the game is not just the code, but also includes the design documents, art materials, development stories, and the people involved in the production. Therefore, he also hopes that there are still people at id Software today who will continue to preserve the company’s development records and not let this history disappear forever due to reorganization, layoffs or personnel turnover. Game preservation has received more and more attention in recent years. In the past, many works have been permanently lost due to company relocation, dissolution, or data loss, resulting in the permanent disappearance of the original program code and art materials, making subsequent remakes difficult.
Players lament: It turns out the real treasure trove is not in the company
After the news was exposed, many players said it was incredible. After all, id Software has just celebrated its 35th anniversary this year, and officials continue to celebrate the history of classic IPs such as “DOOM”. Now it is reported that the most complete early historical archive may not be kept in the company, but in John Romero’s home. For many old players, this may be more worthy of being preserved than any new game.