‘We’re Heartbroken That It’s Come To This’ Doom Co-Creator Loses Funding For New Game Following Xbox Layoffs

Likely due to the recent layoffs at Microsoft, John and Brendo Romero announce bad news regarding their studio and upcoming game. The games industry continues to be quite volatile, with closures, cancellations, and layoffs seemingly happening more often than expected. Microsoft has been at the forefront of this lately, as the corporation just suffered another wave of mass layoffs.

On July 2, Microsoft began a 4% reduction in its workforce, or about 9,000 employees across the entire company. However, the layoffs also impacted the Xbox division as developers were let go, projects were canceled, and even major studios like The Initiative were completely shuttered. The effects of the layoffs are still being felt across the industry as more and more people make announcements, including Romero Games, who were working on a brand-new game.

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In a new post on social media, Romero Games co-founder Brenda Romero shared some difficult news that the game’s publisher decided to cancel funding for their game, as well as several other unannounced projects at other studios. It is highly likely that it’s related to the recent Xbox cuts and layoffs. She went on to confirm the move was strategic and made at the highest levels above their visibility or control, meaning there was nothing they could do to prevent it.

Romero Games Loses Funding For New Game

While the update doesn’t mention the closures and layoffs at Xbox or Microsoft directly, it’s not hard to link the recent layoffs to this announcement. Romero’s post continues to say the cut in funding wasn’t a reflection on the studio’s work or the quality of the game, which she made sure to confirm that they hit every milestone on time and received plenty of praise, and were very proud of the work the team put in. The post closes by saying it’s a difficult day, and they’re heartbroken it has come to this. They’re continuing to evaluate the next steps and are hopeful for any opportunities that might arise to further help the team.

As hinted at in the social media post, Romero Games isn’t the only studio impacted by the recent Microsoft layoffs. First-party games like Perfect Dark and Rare’s Everwild were canceled as well, with many studios also seeing a reduction in workforce. The news is understandably a big blow as the unannounced title was seemingly making steady progress. After Romero Games secured funding for a new FPS in 2022, there was a lot of excitement from fans to see what the Doom co-creator could come up with. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that will be happening anytime soon, unless someone is able to step in and save the project.

Date Founded

April 4, 1975

Headquarters

Redmond, Washington, United States

CEO

Satya Nadella

Subsidiaries

activision blizzard, Microsoft Studios, Mojang Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox Game Studios