John Romero, the legendary game designer who co-founded id Software has had a career spanning five decades. During that time he’s enjoyed the highest of highs, such as his seminal work on Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, and the lowest of lows, most recently when his current studio Romero Games had its funding pulled by Microsoft amid the ongoing cuts across the Xbox business that began last year.

Speaking with IGN during Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2026 this week, where he delivered an opening keynote address titled, ‘Why We Still Make Games,’ Romero seemed upbeat about the direction of his latest project despite 2025’s devastating setback. In fact, almost a year on from the loss in funding and the resulting reduction of his studio from 110 members of staff down to just five, Romero claimed that he was “doing better than [he’d] done in decades.”

“It really sucked,” said Romero of the brutal blindsiding by Microsoft in 2025. “[But] I don't have bitterness because that's not who I am, really. I always move forward. So it's like, that happened. Now we have to figure out where to go from here.”

While Romero remained tight-lipped on the specifics, he was happy to confirm that Romero Games’ latest project has secured a new publishing partner and that development is proceeding well despite the substantial reduction in resources at the studio.

“I can't talk about the publisher, the release date, you know, anything that we're doing, what it is, it's up to them,” said Romero.

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