Romero Games Has Shut Down

Romero Games, the studio helmed by the game industry’s veteran couple, John and Brenda Romero, has reportedly been shuttered after the cancellation of its in-development project. Sources have previously indicated that the closure of the 2015-established company was prompted by the recent layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox.

Affecting up to 9000 employees, the layoffs at Microsoft were among the biggest in recent memory. As it turned out, it not just negatively impacted its own studios but also its third-party partner studios. Earlier, Romero Games had announced the cancellation of its undisclosed game after the publisher—understood to be Xbox—cut off funding. However, things seem to have gone down much worse for the Irish developer than what was originally shared.

Every Game Canceled This Past Week (June 30-July 4)

The recent Microsoft layoffs have affected several studios and anticipated games, causing many in-development titles to be canceled.

One Romero Games employee revealed that the company was “closed” and that “everyone” had been let go, per The Journal. Reportedly, the John Romero-helmed developer and its publisher had a meeting “the day before this happened” during which there wasn’t any mention of such a move being planned by the latter. Contrarily, the team was said to have been acknowledged for its “great progress” on the project. The source further shared that the devs had confidence in the game seeing the light of day. While the scrapping of the game was described as “frustrating” and something that took an “emotional toll” on the team, they stated that “other ways of funding the project” were being explored.

Romero Games Reportedly Closed Down

While the reported closure of Romero Games may not have been officially confirmed yet, it is certainly within the realm of possibility. This is keeping in mind that the latest layoff spell at Microsoft also led to the closure of the Perfect Dark studio, The Initiative. However, it’s also worth remembering that Romero Games wasn’t formed or acquired by Xbox, whereas The Initiative was an Xbox-owned developer.

Back in 2024, Xbox shut down Tango Gameworks, the creator behind the popular Hi-Fi Rush game, before it was revived by a Tencent takeover. Going back to the aforementioned Romero Games employee’s comment about exploring other funding options, it may not be far-fetched to think the recently canceled game could make a comeback under a different banner in the future. If anything, being attached to John Romero—a renowned figure who has led the development of hit IPs, including Doom and Wolfenstein 3D—only adds to the appeal of the project for potential suitors.