Following recent reports that suggested its closure,Romero Gameshas officially released a statement putting any such speculation to bed. Romero Games is one of those developers whose troubles have surfaced post the Microsoft mass layoffs, suggesting a possible link between the Irish studio and the tech giant’s gaming subsidiary,Xbox.
Thelatest round of layoffs at Microsoft, whose workforce has suffered multiple similar blows over the past year, resulted in as many as 9,000 job cuts throughout the organization. The move also hurt Xbox and led to multiple game cancellations and, in one case, the shutdown of an entire studio, The Initiative. In the midst of such developments, Romero Games—the independent studio co-founded by one ofDoom’s creators, John Romero—revealed the scrapping of its in-development game due to an undisclosed publisher, heavily rumored to be Xbox, pulling funds. More recently, there was industry chatter that the studio was also permanently closing its doors, compounding the seriousness of the situation.
An official announcement has debunked therumors about Romero Games shutting downby confirming that the studio was “not closed” and that those responsible were doing “everything in our power” to avoid that fate. Reassuring its followers, the statement also shared that those in charge were very recently on-site to talk about the “next steps with the team.” However, Romero Games did hint at what appears to be a potential restructuring in the near future, underlining the need to “reassess the entire staffing” of the company. While the John Romero-led studio clarified the doubts about its status, it still shied away from naming the publisher behind the cancellation of its title due to legal reasons, simply saying “some may infer it from public information.” Further, the statement ended on a positive note, where it revealed being in touch with “several publishers” and being in the process of “evaluating those opportunities” to revive its canceled game.
Romero Games Puts an End to Rumors About Its Closure
While there might be job cuts looming for Romero Games in the coming weeks, its recently canceled project seems to have some hope of making a comeback in spite of everything that’s happened.Responding to the announcement on Twitter, Romero himself echoed a similar sentiment, describing his team and their game as things “worth fighting for.” WithRomero Games already looking at new potential publishersfor its game, fans may expect to hear an update on this sooner rather than later.
The Xbox layoffs have prompted a variety of serious discussions about the overall state of the gaming landscape. From generative AI and its implications on games to thesustainability of Xbox Game Pass, a few different stakeholders in the industry have lately commented on some debatable topics.
