John Romero, the Doom co-creator, has confirmed that his next shooter survived the Microsoft funding cuts that gutted Romero Games last year – and he’s now drawing inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for its sense of freedom.
John Romero at Gamescom Asia 2026 (Credits: IGN)
John Romero’s shooter finds a new publisher after Microsoft purge
Speaking to IGN at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2026, Romero revealed his studio’s latest project has secured a new publishing partner, nearly a year after Microsoft abruptly pulled funding and slashed Romero Games from 110 staff down to five. “It really sucked,” Romero said, “[but] I don’t have bitterness because that’s not who I am, really. I always move forward.”
The only confirmed details: it’s a shooter built on Unreal Engine 5.8, and it’s carrying over a lot of work from the cancelled project. Despite the reduced team, Romero claimed he was “doing better than [he’d] done in decades.”
John Romero shooter takes inspiration from Breath of the Wild
Romero stopped short of calling it open-world, but heavily implied the shooter will offer far more freedom than your average shooter – invoking Zelda: Breath of the Wild as a reference point. In a December interview he went further, claiming he had “never played a game like it” and that its moment-to-moment gameplay would feel new the way Elden Ring did. The publisher’s identity, release date, and the game’s actual name remain under wraps for now.
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Source: IGN — read the full story there.
