The future of a new shooter from Doom creator John Romero, which was canceled by Xbox last year, has been secured. Romero confirmed in a recent interview that his studio, Romero Games, has found a new publisher for the project.
Romero Games, founded by John and Brenda Romero, previously developed titles such as Gunman Taco Truck and Empire of Sin. The studio had been working on a AAA shooter in partnership with Xbox Game Studios before the project was dropped in 2025 amidst widespread layoffs at Xbox. This cancellation led to layoffs at Romero Games as well, reducing its team from 110 developers down to an initial five.
In an interview with Video Games Chronicle, John Romero stated that he reconnected with a publisher contact and secured a new deal. While Romero could not disclose the publisher's name or any details about an announcement, he confirmed that he has been able to rehire some of the developers who were previously laid off. Romero Games currently employs around 15 developers.
Romero explained that the game has undergone a significant redesign to fit the smaller team and the new publisher's vision. While the core intellectual property, including art and code assets, has been carried over, the game is fundamentally a new iteration. "It’s like ‘here’s all these characters that we can move over’, you know?" Romero said. "Art, code assets – I mean, shooters have a lot of common code – so we’ve moved a bunch of stuff over to the new game, which got us a big head-start, starting with really great art, cool weapons, all that kind of stuff."
Despite the project's tumultuous journey, the continuation of Romero Games' shooter in some capacity offers a positive outcome, especially for studios that have faced similar setbacks without finding new opportunities.