Romero Video games, whose in-development shooter was cancelled final week within the wake of (however not essentially because of, extra on that later) the foremost layoffs at Microsoft, has issued a press release on social media clarifying that it’s not closed down, and that “we’re doing every little thing in our energy to make sure that it doesn’t come to that.”
Romero Video games mentioned on July 3 that funding for its venture, a brand new FPS introduced in 2022, had been cancelled, “together with a number of different unannounced initiatives at different studios.” The writer went unnamed however given the massacre that had occurred at Microsoft the day earlier than—9,000 folks laid off, a number of video games cancelled, one studio closed outright—the offender appeared apparent.
The destiny of Romero Video games itself was additionally left unclear. The funding cancellation alluded to layoffs however made no particular point out of any cuts; a number of staff mentioned they’d been laid off, nonetheless, and a few mentioned all the workforce had been let go, successfully shuttering the studio.
However that is apparently not the case, and there could even be some hope for the still-unnamed sport to make a comeback. In a message shared to social media, Romero Video games confirmed that funding for the sport was pulled and it was cancelled in consequence, however clarified that it’s not closed.
“Any suggestion in any other case is factually incorrect,” Romero Video games wrote. “Certainly, we had been within the studio in the present day to debate subsequent steps with the workforce.”
The studio additionally mentioned it has been contacted by a number of publishers about getting the sport “throughout the end line” and that it’s now “evaluating these alternatives,” suggesting that the sport will not be actually cancelled however extra simply in a state of no-money limbo.
Replace (July 7, 2025)
— @romerogames.bsky.social (@romerogames.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-07-07T22:23:04.141Z
Reviews of Romero Video games’ closure could have been untimely, however it was additionally comprehensible: A couple of former worker mentioned on social media that everybody had been let go, and all the studio had been closed; one truly reposted a message claiming that Romero Video games was up on the market. It is all been muddled, however very dangerous regardless of the way you slice it, as mirrored within the remark that “we now must reassess all the staffing of our studio.”
Worker feedback on which writer was answerable for pulling the funding appear extra dependable: Romero Video games mentioned “confidentiality agreements” forestall it from naming names, however it’d be a hell of a coincidence if another main writer minimize it off at the exact same time as Microsoft’s most up-to-date bloodbath. (The comment that “some could infer it from public data” can also be fairly finger-on-nose.)
As for who may step in to save lots of the day, that is still a thriller for the second. It isn’t terribly stunning that somebody desires to step in: In any case, ‘John and Brenda Romero need cash to complete a brand new shooter they’ve already been engaged on for 3 years’ needs to be a reasonably straightforward promote for anybody with sufficiently deep pockets. Hopefully we’ll have information on that, and excellent news for the studio’s employees, quickly.
