John Romero

Legendary game creator John Romero has confirmed his next project has "survived cancellation" after Microsoft cut its funding for the project as part of a wave of layoffs earlier this year.

Speaking at a video game expo in Madrid, Spain (via Eurogamer), Romero announced during a panel that the game had been saved, but it will be quite a different one now. It's shared that the project is "much smaller" now, and it is a shooter of some kind.

Compared to what the title was when Microsoft was funding it, the design is now "completely different", but with 110 staff members working on it, the team isn't "starting at ground zero" as it "incorporates a lot of elements" from what it was making before.

Romero then even cites Elden Ring as something the developer has drawn inspiration from, in the sense it offered an entirely new experience. Romero explained he's "never played a game like" the one he's leading now. It's a shooter, but "the things that you do in it, will be new to people, the way that going through Elden Ring was a really new experience".

As a result of the Microsoft layoffs earlier this year, multiple game projects like Perfect Dark, Everwild, and an unannounced MMO were all cancelled. Perfect Dark studio The Initiative was shut down on top, but Take-Two has since hired two of the project's directors to lead a new studio at 2K.

At the time, Romero Games was reportedly blindsided by Microsoft's decision to pull its funding, as it was claimed the two parties met just a day before the news was made public. An anonymous source said: "We had meetings with the publisher the day before this happened, there was no mention of it. It seemed so far away for us. The title was pretty well developed at the time."

[source eurogamer.net]