We have an update on the news regarding Romero Games, which is a mix of good, bad, and a bit of a mystery.
Last week we reported on rumors that Romero Games was closing down following the cancellation of their game. As we verified from the original source of the rumor, Irish news outlet The Journal, multiple sources claimed that the game’s financial backer/publisher was Microsoft, and there was another claim that Romero Games met with the publisher a day before. To this day, neither Romero Games, Microsoft, Bethesda, or other outlets, have confirmed that either of these two claims are true.
Today Romero Games has shared an official statement on their Bluesky:
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.
- The funding for our project was pulled, and our game was canceled.
- Due to confidentiality agreements, we cannot disclose the publisher’s identity, though some may infer it from public information.
- As a result, we now have to reassess the entire staffing of our studio.
- 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.
- We’ve been contacted by several publishers interested in helping us bring the game across the finish line, and we’re currently evaluating those opportunities.
We appreciate the outpouring of support and will share further updates as we are able.
Romero Games put up job openings in 2022 revealing that they were making a first person shooter based on Unreal 5. This is most likely to be the recently cancelled FPS, and they didn’t name the publisher then too.
While John Romero’s SIGIL and SIGIL 2 were released as part of the 2020 and 2024 remasters of the Doom games, he did not license or even ask permission from Bethesda or Microsoft to make these MegaWADs. Romero Games’ last published title was actually Empire of Sin, a strategy RPG set in America’s Prohibition era. This game was designed by John, directed by his wife Brenda, and published by Paradox Interactive, which remains independent to this day.
So, in spite of the strong correlation between Romero Games and the Microsoft layoffs, we don’t actually know if Microsoft was really the publisher or financial backer of Romero Games’ FPS. Even Romero Games’ statement that ‘some can infer it from public information’ doesn’t confirm it, because their statement is meant to debunk inaccuracies in earlier reports. That certainly hints that people who know how to find that public information can get evidence for who that publisher is, and prove it wasn’t who we thought it was.
We’re all certainly hopeful that Romero Games finds a good publisher, but it looks like they may not be able to avoid layoffs. We wish the best for the staff working at Romero Games now, and hope that they can stay in the industry in some capacity as they desire it.
