Romero Games, the Ireland-based studio founded by John and Brenda Romero, has reportedly shut down entirely after losing funding from Microsoft.
The studio confirmed earlier this week that Microsoft, the publisher behind an unannounced shooter project, withdrew its publishing agreement, leading to significant job losses. Employees took to LinkedIn to announce their departures, and an anonymous staff member told The Journal that all 100-plus employees have been laid off.
“Everyone is out of a job,” the source said. “We had meetings with the publisher the day before this happened, and there was no indication. The title was fairly developed at that point.” Romero Games was creating a first-person shooter using Unreal Engine 5.
There remains hope that another publisher might fund the project, but as of now, the studio’s operations have ceased. “We’re trying to find other ways of funding the project,” the employee added. “But for now, it’s completely closed.”
This closure follows a challenging week for Microsoft, which announced layoffs affecting over 9,000 staffers and cancelled several major projects, including the reboot of Perfect Dark and Rare’s Everwild. In addition, The Initiative studio was shut down, senior developers departed from Rare, and Project Blackbird at ZeniMax Online Studios was cancelled amid leadership changes.