Despite rumors and reports that pointed to the contrary, Romero Games is in fact still kicking, though things are still touch and go as the team is forced to "reassess the staffing of [the] studio."
Romero Games, founded by industry veterans John and Brenda Romero, was deep in development on its latest game when its publisher suddenly pulled funding from the project last week, causing the game to be cancelled and casting a shadow on the future of the Galway-based team. In a statement shared to Romero Games' social media pages on July 7, the studio clarified a lot of the questions surrounding its future and the unfortunate cancellation.
The short post claims that the team's project did lose funding last week, putting the team in a difficult spot. Due to the nature of the deal, Romero Games cannot reveal the publisher that pulled the team's funding, but as news of layoffs and similar cancellations across several Xbox studios continued to trickle out last week, it was largely believed to be Microsoft. Romero Games' post suggests that "some may infer [the publisher's identity] from public information."
In a spot of good news however, it also states that interested parties have reached out to Romero Games in order to potentially "bring the game across the finish line." Crucially, it also makes clear that Romero Games is still open, and that the team was even in the studio as recently as July 7 to discuss possible next steps.
Romero Games was established in 2015 and has released a number of games since its inception, including the mods Sigil and its sequel Sigil II, which serve as unofficial continuations for DOOM, the foundational FPS which John Romero helped create during his time at id Software. The team most recently developed Empire of Sin, a strategy game set in the Prohibition era and published by Paradox Interactive, and was working on a new FPS before the waves at Microsoft seemingly ended the game's development.
Last week, Microsoft executed another mass round of layoffs, culminating in the closure of The Initiative and the cancellation of projects like Perfect Dark and a new MMO from the team behind Elder Scrolls Online. The cuts are believed to target about 9,000 employees across Microsoft's portfolio, and a lot of teams working under the Xbox banner, like Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, were heavily impacted by the layoffs.
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Romero Games, founded by industry veterans John and Brenda Romero, was deep in development on its latest game when its publisher suddenly pulled funding from the project last week, causing the game to be cancelled and casting a shadow on the future of the Galway-based team. In a statement shared to Romero Games' social media pages on July 7, the studio clarified a lot of the questions surrounding its future and the unfortunate cancellation.
Update (July 7, 2025) pic.twitter.com/9QoZ7RWY3S
— Romero Games Ltd. (@romerogamesltd) July 7, 2025
The short post claims that the team's project did lose funding last week, putting the team in a difficult spot. Due to the nature of the deal, Romero Games cannot reveal the publisher that pulled the team's funding, but as news of layoffs and similar cancellations across several Xbox studios continued to trickle out last week, it was largely believed to be Microsoft. Romero Games' post suggests that "some may infer [the publisher's identity] from public information."
In a spot of good news however, it also states that interested parties have reached out to Romero Games in order to potentially "bring the game across the finish line." Crucially, it also makes clear that Romero Games is still open, and that the team was even in the studio as recently as July 7 to discuss possible next steps.
Romero Games was established in 2015 and has released a number of games since its inception, including the mods Sigil and its sequel Sigil II, which serve as unofficial continuations for DOOM, the foundational FPS which John Romero helped create during his time at id Software. The team most recently developed Empire of Sin, a strategy game set in the Prohibition era and published by Paradox Interactive, and was working on a new FPS before the waves at Microsoft seemingly ended the game's development.
Last week, Microsoft executed another mass round of layoffs, culminating in the closure of The Initiative and the cancellation of projects like Perfect Dark and a new MMO from the team behind Elder Scrolls Online. The cuts are believed to target about 9,000 employees across Microsoft's portfolio, and a lot of teams working under the Xbox banner, like Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, were heavily impacted by the layoffs.
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