UPDATE: Romero Games isn’t dead yet. The studio says there’s a chance it’ll live on with new funding. “Romero Games is not closed, and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that it does not come to that,” the studio said in a new tweet.
“We’ve been contacted by several publishers interested in helping us bring the game across the finish line, and we’re currently evaluating those opportunities,” the tweet adds.
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Original Story:
Microsoft’s gaming cutbacks have claimed a high-profile victim: An upcoming shooter from Doom co-creator John Romero.
In 2022, Romero teased a new first-person shooter from his studio, Romero Games. But it looks like the studio has shut down after losing funding from its publisher, Microsoft, which laid off 4% of its employees last week, many of them focused on gaming.
On Bluesky, Romero Games confirmed that its publisher had axed its funding. An employee from the studio later indicated on LinkedIn that Romero Games would shut down due to the “layoffs at Microsoft.”
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Irish newspaper The Journal reports that the studio employed 42 staffers, along with a broader network of developers, for a total of 100+ people. “We’re trying to find other ways of funding the project,” an employee told the paper. “But for now, it’s completely closed, and the studio is closed.”
“It seemed so far away for us,” the employee added. “The title was pretty well developed at the time.”
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The news is a big loss at a time when Microsoft’s Xbox team desperately needs more hits. The game was also going to feature new intellectual property, along with cutting-edge graphics using Unreal Engine 5.
Romero Games didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an earlier statement, the studio noted: “We hit every milestone on time, every time, consistently received high praise, and easily passed all our internal gates. We are incredibly proud of the work being done, and of the talented team behind it. The best we’ve worked with.”
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
