"A lot of companies" are interested in reviving Doom icon John Romero's new FPS that Microsoft reportedly pulled funding on: "If you move and start working with somebody else, they get $50 million for free"

Doom
(Image credit: id Software)

id Software co-founder and Doom designer John Romero says Romero Games still has a number of publishers interested in the studio's axed shooter after it reportedly lost its funding from Microsoft earlier this year.

As a part of Microsoft's sweeping layoffs, which impacted its gaming division, resulting in the cancellations of Everwild, the Perfect Dark reboot, and Zenimax Online Studios' unannounced MMO, Romero Games announced it had lost funding on an "all-new FPS with an original, new IP" that it had been working with "a major publisher" on for a few years. While Romero Games' statement didn't mention Microsoft, former employees identified them as the "major publisher" when discussing the cancellation.

"We’re still figuring out what we’re going to do with our big game," Romero says, adding, "We own the IP, we own the code, we own everything about the game." Mirroring the studio's comments earlier this year, Romero reaffirmed, "we have a lot of companies that are interested and still working with us on it," noting that "when you develop a game for years and you put in, say, $50 million into a game, if you move and start working with somebody else, they get $50 million for free."

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Scott McCrae
Contributor

Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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