John and Brenda Romero say the current state of the industry feels even more “crash-like” than the North American video game crash of 1983

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the founders of Romero Games — Doom co-creator John Romero and his wife Brenda Romero, known for Wizardry and Jagged Alliance 2 — said the video game industry is facing serious challenges.

Brenda noted: “I feel like the industry is in a very difficult place right now. We were around during the crash of the ’80s, and this situation feels even more crisis-like. Very few people haven’t been affected directly or indirectly — either their partners have been impacted or they’re worried about losing their jobs. It’s truly a tough time.”

John added that even successful projects don’t guarantee stability. He pointed to Battlefield 6, which “performed very, very well,” yet some of the studios involved still faced layoffs after its release. “I don’t understand why that happens,” he said.

Last year, an Irish publication reported that Romero Games in Galway had closed, but the studio denied the claim. It was later revealed that funding for their current project had been withdrawn and the game canceled, though there was still a possibility of continuing development with support from other publishers.

“We never closed,” Brenda explained to GI.biz. “It was an extremely turbulent period, but we spoke with many different companies, and in the end both the studio and the project survived.”

However, the studio had to make significant cuts, reducing its team from 110 people to just nine. Brenda emphasized that while the company is still operating, another setback could be critical.

“I know we’ll be okay for the near term,” she said. “But if something goes wrong again and 2027 turns into another ‘exciting’ year, at least we’ve both had a good run.”

The Romeros also compared the current state of the industry to the North American video game crash of 1983, suggesting today’s environment feels even more unstable.

Romero Games confirmed last year that it lost funding for its shooter project after its publisher, later identified as Microsoft, withdrew from the publishing agreement.

Brenda added that while she’s confident people will continue playing games, she’s unsure how the industry will recover in the near future.

“This is one of those times where I just don’t know,” she admitted. “Behind the scenes, there’s strong pressure to adopt generative AI, but also significant pushback from both developers and players… and for what it’s worth, we’re not using generative AI. So it’s hard to predict what comes next.”

The video game crash of 1983 in North America was caused by several factors, including market oversaturation with low-quality games (particularly on the Atari 2600). With too many titles flooding the market and numerous publishers going out of business, retailers began heavily discounting games and became reluctant to stock new releases.

While the gaming industry remained healthy in other regions such as Japan and Europe, the North American market struggled to recover until Nintendo introduced the NES, marketed as an “Entertainment System” rather than just a game console, and helped regain retailer confidence with accessories like the R.O.B. robot.