---

Trilinear said:
Just speculating, but it's worth remembering that former employees (American McGee, Brandon James) have characterised id as being a very demanding employer. As such these layoffs may have been the company shuffling off burn-outs.

Recall that Carmack's innate genius affords him easy access to Flow. This ability can easily manifest itself as workaholism, and a consequence of this can be resentment of those not perceived as being similarly committed to the cause. Due to Carmack's position as the figurehead of the company, even if such a strong work ethic is not enforced as rigorously as it once was when id was independent, it probably still permeates the atmosphere at the company sufficiently to push employees beyond their limits (which are mortal in comparison).

---