Romero Games ‘in talks’ with publishers to save project after Xbox cuts

One of the more surprising casualties from last week’s Xbox layoffs was Romero Games. Founded by DOOM creator, John Romero, the studio was not owned by Microsoft, but its new game was being funded by them and when that funding was pulled, a number of employees made the claim that the entire studio had closed down. As it turns out, Romero Games is still ‘open’, but it needs to find a new publisher to continue work on its game. 

While Romero Games has not named Microsoft or Xbox in any of its official statements, the company did confirm last week that it had lost publisher funding for the new First-Person Shooter it was developing. After reports that the studio was closing, Romero Games issued a correction, saying the studio is not closed, at least not just yet.

“We want to address recent reports regarding the status of Romero Games. These reports have contained inaccuracies, and we feel it’s important to set the record straight. Romero Games is not closed, and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that it does not come to that. Any suggestion otherwise is factually incorrect. Indeed, we were in the studio today to discuss next steps with the team.”

While the company remains ‘in business’, the lack of publisher for its new game means that the Romeros need to “reassess the entire staffing”. The studio also makes the claim that several publishers have been in touch to express interest in saving the project. However, there has been no pen to paper yet, so the situation is still evolving.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully Romero Games is able to recover funding from a new source and keep all of its staff. For now though, the future of this mystery game is still up in the air. 

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