According to Wccftech, DOOM co-creator John Romero confirmed at the Salón del Videojuego de Madrid 2025 last week that his studio’s next unannounced game, which was canceled earlier this year during massive Xbox layoffs, has been saved. The project, which was originally set to be published by Xbox, has been picked up by a new, unnamed publisher. Romero stated the game has been completely redesigned and is now much smaller in scope than the original version. He boldly compared the innovative experience of playing this new shooter to the groundbreaking feeling of playing FromSoftware’s Elden Ring for the first time. Romero also claimed he has “never played a game like this shooter before,” hinting at unique mechanics.
Romero’s Bold Claim
Now, comparing anything to Elden Ring is a huge statement. That game didn’t just sell well; it redefined open-world design for a generation. So when a legend like John Romero—a guy who literally helped write the rulebook for first-person shooters—says his new thing evokes that same feeling of novelty, you have to pay attention. It’s not just marketing fluff from some random exec; this is from the co-creator of DOOM and Quake. He knows what groundbreaking gameplay feels like because he’s shipped it.
But here’s the thing: he’s being deliberately vague. We know it’s a shooter. We know it’s “much smaller” now post-redesign. And we know it involves doing things he claims are new to people. What does that even mean? Is it a radical new approach to combat loops, world interaction, or narrative? The fact that it survived the Xbox gutting and found a new home suggests there’s a compelling core idea there that another publisher saw value in. The pressure is on, though. Invoking Elden Ring sets a sky-high expectation.
The Development Rollercoaster
This saga is a microcosm of modern game dev, honestly. A project gets greenlit by a giant like Xbox, then gets axed in a wave of corporate layoffs—earlier this year, that wave hit Perfect Dark, a ZeniMax Online MMORPG, and Romero’s game. The studio, Romero Games, had to scramble. They didn’t close, but they had to shop this wounded project around. The fact they saved it is a win, but a redesign and downscoping is a brutal process.
Basically, they’ve likely had to tear up a lot of work built for Xbox’s resources and retool it for a smaller budget and team. That’s incredibly hard. It means cutting features, rethinking scope, and maybe even changing core tech. The silver lining? Constraints often breed creativity. Being forced to make a “much smaller” game could have focused them on that one brilliant, innovative mechanic Romero is hinting at. Instead of a bloated AAA project, we might get a tight, genre-bending experience. Sometimes that’s better.
What Could It Actually Be?
So what kind of shooter could feel as novel as Elden Ring? It’s a fun puzzle. Elden Ring’s magic was in its hands-off, exploration-driven world and its deep, punishing combat systems. Translating that “aha!” feeling to a shooter is fascinating. Maybe it’s a shooter with a similarly interconnected, mysterious world full of secrets and no quest markers. Or perhaps the innovation is all in the combat—a fluid, systemic fighting style that feels more like a deadly dance than just pointing and clicking.
Romero’s history is all about fast, visceral action. But Quake also had a fantastic sense of verticality and movement. Could this new game merge immersive sim elements with brutal shooter combat? Or introduce a progression or death system that turns the genre on its head? We simply don’t know. But the most exciting part is that a foundational figure in FPS history is this excited about pushing the genre forward again. After the cancellation, the save, and the redesign, let’s hope we get to see it sooner rather than later.
