John Romero has a long and storied career in game development. He started as a solo indie developer for the Apple II in the early 1980s, with small studios such as Capitol Ideas Software and Ideas from the Deep before he co-founded the legendary id Software with John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall, in 1991. For those unaware, Masters of Doom is a rather novelized version of the rise of id Software, but still definitely worth a read. After id Software, Romero also founded or co-founded other studios, Ion Storm, Monkeystone Games, and Gazillion Entertainment. In 2010, he co-founded Loot Drop with Brenda Romero (née Brathwaite), who also started her career in the early 1980s, having worked as either a writer, designer or director in titles such as Jagged Alliance 2, Wizardry 8, Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes, Ravenwood Fair, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Commander. In 2015, the couple founded Romero Games, based in Galway, Ireland.
So far, Romero Games has developed Gunman Taco Truck (with their son), and more recently announced (then delayed) the classic DOOM expansion pack Sigil, as part of DOOM's 25th anniversary. Today, Romero Games and Paradox Interactive have announced that they are partnering to develop a strategy game based on original IP. An announcement in the Paradox Interactive website made it official:
“We are thrilled to work with industry legends, Brenda and John Romero, whose games we’ve grown up playing ourselves and long admired,” said Ebba Ljungerud, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “At Paradox Interactive, we’ve built a reputation for top-tier strategy games and we’re employing that expertise to help build something really special with the team at Romero Games.”John Romero also announced it on Twitter. You can sign up for a newsletter here if you want to stay in the loop about the upcoming game.“This has been a project we’ve been wanting to work on for a long time, so it’s especially exciting that we’ll be partnering with Paradox Interactive to fully realize that dream,” said Brenda Romero, Co-Founder of Romero Games. “We can’t wait to tell everyone more, so make sure you watch this space!”
What do you think of the announcement? Do you think a Paradox-type grand strategy fits the Romero Games profile, or is it something more unique to their style? Let us know in the comments below!
