New Xbox Game from DOOM Co-Creator Gets Cancelled

Romero Games has announced that the developer’s next title has been unexpectedly cancelled by the publisher. The studio was founded in 2015 by John and Brenda Romero, and previously worked on the SIGIL games, as well as Empire of Sin. The next title from Romero Games had not been fully revealed, but it would have been a first-person shooter developed in Unreal Engine 5. In a post on X/Twitter, Brenda Romero noted that “this was a strategic decision made at a high level within the publisher, well above our visibility or control.” She went on to note that this was not indicative of the game’s progress.

“This absolutely isn’t a reflection of our team’s work, performance, or the quality of the project itself. We hit every milestone on time, every time, consistently received high praise, and easily passed all our internal gates. We are incredibly proud of the work being done, and of the talented team behind it. The best we’ve worked with,” wrote Brenda Romero. “We’re currently evaluating next steps and working quickly to support our team.”

While Brenda Romero avoided specifically citing the name of the publisher, not every employee at the studio did the same. In a post on X/Twitter quoting her, hard surface artist Christoph Redl noted that he lost his job at Romero Games “due to the recent Xbox layoffs.” According to a report from IGN, several other staff members at Romero Games have taken to LinkedIn, where they’ve noted that the whole studio is being let go as a result of the project’s cancellation.

This week, Xbox announced layoffs across several development teams, with a number of games being cancelled as a direct result, including Perfect Dark, Everwild, and a new MMO from the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online. While rumors about the impending layoffs had been circulating for days prior, the sheer size and scope still came as a surprise to those in the video game industry. Today’s news shows that this is not just having an impact on teams owned by Xbox Game Studios, but also to games that the company was planning to publish.

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Reception to the cancellation has been highly negative. John Romero is the co-creator of the DOOM franchise, and fans were excited by the prospect of a brand-new first-person shooter from his studio. Now all of that studio’s employees find themselves looking for new jobs, and their work will never be seen by audiences. There are also a lot of questions about what this means for the future of the Xbox brand, and for AAA games as a whole. If Microsoft is willing to cancel so many projects while it’s telling stockholders about record profits, should studios continue to look at Xbox as a viable publisher? It’s a lingering question, and one that will have a massive impact on the industry’s future.

What do you think about all these cancelled games at Xbox? Do you think publishers will be hesitant to work with the company in the future? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!