DOOM co-creator John Romero’s entire Romero Games studio has been let go following Microsoft layoffs as Xbox cuts funding for new FPS

If I wanted to judge John Romero's ability to put maps together, I would look at his current Doom and Quake episodes that he released for free. Those were pretty good, so I would argue he still knows map design.

He and his wife released Empire of Sin in 2020, which was mid.

Friend of mine played it, based on his nostalgia for old era id, and said it was terrible.
 
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Of all those people getting axed, no tears for Romero.

TTogether with carmack he made an unmatched legacy, but what has Romero made that was a success?

Daikatana? It was such a disappointment back when it got released.
 
Of all those people getting axed, no tears for Romero.

TTogether with carmack he made an unmatched legacy, but what has Romero made that was a success?

Daikatana? It was such a disappointment back when it got released.

Romero can't do anything basically. The rise and fall of ION Storm is well documented, and he had absolutely no clue on how to run a studio or develop a game himself (for which he was fired from ID in the first place). This is why his contributions are basically zero for the last 25 years, except for some classic Doom maps. The sister studio ION Austin, ran by Warren Spector, released good games. Romeros studio didn't.

But he seems to be a cool guy though.
 
If I wanted to judge John Romero's ability to put maps together, I would look at his current Doom and Quake episodes that he released for free. Those were pretty good, so I would argue he still knows map design.



Friend of mine played it, based on his nostalgia for old era id, and said it was terrible.
Well, I tried to be polite about it. But yeah, it looks like shit. I guess my reverence for Brenda Romero is still showing. She designed Wizardry 8, which still is arguably the best "blobber" ever. (RIP Sir-Tech...)
 
Romero also did a lot of the programming for id's early games. He wasn't just a game designer / level designer. For example I think Romero created the level editors for Doom and Quake.
 
Phil saw Doom The Dark Ages numbers and said no to FPS flops.

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Holly crap, TDA bombed? I thought the trailers were cool but didn't find motivation to play it, I'm stuck with like 50 games from the PS3 era I want to finish before some arsehole at Sony announces PS3 store and trophy progression are all halted in 2026 (20th year since release)
 
Wish them the best of luck.. though it looks like their studio was founded in 2014 and from I can see haven't released a single game since that time.. am I missing something?

I mean the guy is an icon and has legacy, but you do need to ship games, you can't blame Microsoft for focusing their funding on studios that can actually produce a product in a reasonable timeframe
 
Romero can't do anything basically. The rise and fall of ION Storm is well documented, and he had absolutely no clue on how to run a studio or develop a game himself (for which he was fired from ID in the first place).

Ion Storm gave us Anachronox and Deus Ex which puts it in the top 10 game studios of all time for me. Sure Deus Ex was Warren's baby but it wouldn't have happened if Romero hadn't given Warren a blank check to build his dream game. Ditto for Anachronox and Tom Hall.
 
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Phil saw Doom The Dark Ages numbers and said no to FPS flops.

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I know many are saying it's the GP effect, but I'd say the problem is the game itself.

I grew up with the original doom games.

I loved doom 2016.
I disliked eternal because of its parkour and all that because it broke and ruined the gameplay that the franchise typically did, and the new doom just doesn't look like doom to me.

Long cut scenes, bashing big creatures and use them as vehicles.
Its just not doom, and that is why the franchise is struggling, in my opinion.

The increased price tag is also a big part of the problem. But more fans could probably have swallowed it if doom stayed true to it's roots and not trying to reinvent the genre upon each sequel.
 
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I don't think so...maybe in MC Donald's as a dish washer......
Right now as I type this, there are investors out there walking around going about their day, not knowing they're going to burn millions of dollars on a Romero moonshot in the next couple years. And who can blame them? The hair, the legacy, the rizz, it's gotta be hard to pass up when you're trying to out perform a mutual fund and make some easy cash. Seems like such a sure thing. You can barely have lunch with the guy without someone recognizing him. It can't miss!
 
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This whole industry baffles me. From the outside and as a layman, it seems like an endless money pits of people "working on things" for almost a decade with no product to bring in cash. I just don't get how any of this works sometimes lol.
Well USAID just shut off the spigget. I am sure some of that was laundered into the games industry.
 
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