John Romero and Brenda Romero are two iconic game developers who have been working in the industry for decades. Now, they run Romero Games together, a studio that everyone was concerned would close after a project it was working on with Xbox lost its funding. Thankfully, the studio didn't close, but the way the Romeros see the state of the video game industry, we have a lot more to worry about than just their studio going the way of the dinosaur.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.Biz, the two veteran developers who have been around long enough to remember the infamous video game industry crash of 1983, said that the current state of the video game industry feels worse than how things felt in the 80s.
"I feel like the industry's in a really horrible place," said Brenda Romero. "I mean, we were there in the 80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier. There are so few people that have not been affected, or their partner's affected, or they're worried about being affected. It's a really difficult time right now."
John Romero pointed out that even successful games aren't escaping the industry's struggles. Battlefield 6 was the best-selling game in 2025, and EA still laid off developers at the Battlefield Studios teams who made that game possible. "I don't understand what that's all about," John said.
Both of them are still adamant about their love for games and making them. Brenda jokes that John's ideal death would be "found dead in his chair coding," while John adds, "There's too much cool stuff to make."
But neither of them is wrong for having their concerns. Outside of Battlefield 6, we just saw Fortnite owner Epic Games lay off over 1,000 employees because Fortnite took a downturn. Big, triple-A games, the kinds that used to provide jobs with some level of security, are more expensive to make than ever before, and it's driving the bean counters of the industry away from wanting to take any risks and making them quick to cut staff to bring costs down.
And when those people are laid off, finding a job in the video game industry is more difficult than it ever has been, no matter how experienced you are.
For the Romeros, their way of giving Romero Games as much runway as possible has partly been going down to a micro team, something they were forced to do after losing funding last year. Micro teams are "where it's at right now," says John, and while the Romeros have the capability to run a team like that, they are still the lucky ones of today's industry.
But even with all the negativity, they still have hope for the future. "There are people like LocalThunk, there are people like Ed McMillen, there are people who are still going to make games," says Brenda. "It can't stay like this forever."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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