Prime Highlights
- DOOM co-creator John Romero’s Romero Games has shut down, with Microsoft reportedly pulling project funding.
- More than 100 staff members lost their jobs following the cancellation of their next shooter.
Key Facts
- Microsoft, via Bethesda, cut financial support for Romero Games’ Unreal Engine 5-based first-person shooter.
- In spite of serious development on the game, the cut in funding saw the studio completely shut down.
- The shutdown coincides with mass layoffs across Xbox-related studios as a result of corporate restructuring.
Key Background
Romero Games, established in 2015 by industry legends John and Brenda Romero, was located in Galway, Ireland. Famous for their creative heritage—particularly John Romero’s contribution to the creation of DOOM—the studio had built up a reputation gradually with the likes of Gunman Taco Truck and Empire of Sin. In recent times, the firm had been actively developing a new AAA first-person shooter based on Unreal Engine 5.
The studio’s new game, which had Bethesda as its publisher, was developing steadily and had apparently passed a number of internal milestones. But all development stopped when Microsoft started huge restructuring and layoffs in early July 2025, affecting its Xbox unit and its subsidiaries. As a part of the rearrangement, support for a number of ongoing projects was terminated, including Romero Games’ next shooter.
The move, according to in-house sources, was sudden. Staff were said to have been told without notice, and the whole team of over 100 individuals were fired. Others from the team recounted their ordeal on social media, where they lamented the closure of the studio. They explained that the game was well advanced and that the team had no idea there was a problem only a day before the revelation.
Brenda Romero assured that the cancellation was strictly beyond the control of the studio and did not relate to performance or development problems. The leaders called the team “heartbroken,” but also suggested looking for new ways to revive the project through different publishers or investments.
The shutdown of Romero Games fits a wider trend throughout the gaming industry, especially with Microsoft’s increasing emphasis on consolidating properties and streamlining costs. Recent widespread layoffs have hit several studios in the Xbox umbrella and caused other prominent titles to be canceled.
Though Romero Games are shut down for the time being, there is still hope that the company and its still-under-development shooter would be back—subject to new financing. But for the moment, it’s a swift and melancholy conclusion to a studio led by one of gaming’s most legendary creators.
