On Quake's 30th anniversary, original designer Sandy Petersen posted a thread on X on June 24, arguing that the game's development was a "grueling process" that "broke us spiritually" and destroyed id Software from within. Within a couple of years of Quake shipping, a remarkable number of key people had walked out, including John Romero, Shawn Green, Dave Taylor, Mike Abrash, and American McGee; Petersen added that he himself was among them, some forced out, others leaving willingly. Petersen also stated that Doom, "technically inferior" to Quake, ultimately had a larger impact on gaming. John Carmack replied publicly, saying Quake was overly ambitious on a technical level and that a more iterative approach could have served the team better. He admitted he pushed people harder than he should have and failed to recognize how sustained startup-level intensity wears people down, and flagged the company's original stock arrangement as a structural mistake. Carmack ended his reply with: "Sorry, Sandy."