As reported by TheJournal.ie (via VGC), Doom designer John Romero and Wizardry 8 developer Brenda Romero’s studio, Romero Games, has fully closed following the withdrawal of publisher funding for its in-development FPS. Former employees have stated that the publisher in question was Microsoft, making Romero Games another casualty of the tech giant’s most recent round of cuts and mass layoffs.
We previously reported on Romero Games’ statement on the loss of funding, but TheJournal.ie confirmed the closure and shed more light on the circumstances surrounding it. A former employee told TheJournal.ie that Romero Games “had meetings with the publisher the day before this happened, there was no mention of it.”
Though there were concerns at the studio given Microsoft’s recent streak of layoffs and studio closures, “It seemed so far away from us,” the employee said. “The title was pretty well developed at the time.” Records show that Romero Games directly employed 42 people, but TheJournal.ie reported that external staff working on the unnamed FPS project brought the total number of those affected to over 100.
We were not keen on Romero Games’ first standalone project, 2020’s Empire of Sin. Online Editor Fraser Brown felt it had exciting potential and ambitions, but that it failed to stick the landing, awarding it a 49% in his review. Empire of Sin did, however, get a surprise expansion just last month from developer Moonmana.
Less fraught were unofficial Doom expansions Sigil and Sigil 2, released by Romero Games in 2018 and 2023 respectively. The megawads have proven a winning addition to the Doom canon, with both included in Nightdive’s remaster of the original Doom. If Romero Games’ in-development FPS could have maintained Sigil’s design excellence in a full-on triple-A FPS, then we missed out on a modern classic in the making.
Romero Games appeared to have been gearing up for an announcement before this calamity, increasing its output on social media. The most exciting part of this was an “FPS Fridays” series on Twitch featuring Romero checking out other FPSes, including New Blood’s Dusk.
It sounds like there’s still a faint sliver of hope for Romero Games. “We’re trying to find other ways of funding the project,” the employee interviewed by TheJournal.ie said. “But for now, it’s completely closed, and the studio is closed.” A surprise stay of execution wouldn’t be without precedent: Tango Gameworks was revived by Krafton after Microsoft shut the studio down last year.
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