Brenda and John Romero, two developers with decades of industry experience stretching back to the early days of PC gaming, have spoken candidly about the current state of the games industry - and their assessment is grim. Speaking to Game Developer, the pair described the industry as being in a "really horrible place."

What makes their perspective particularly striking is the historical weight behind it. Both Romeros were active developers during the catastrophic 1983 video game crash, which wiped out a significant chunk of the North American games market. Despite that lived experience, they suggest the current moment feels even more severe - summarized bluntly as "this is definitely crashier."

Veterans sounding the alarm

The Romeros aren't random commentators. John co-created Doom and Quake, titles that quite literally shaped the first-person shooter genre. Brenda is an acclaimed designer and educator with work spanning multiple decades and genres. When people with that depth of experience start drawing unfavorable comparisons to one of the industry's darkest historical chapters, it's worth paying attention.

The broader context here is hard to ignore. The past two years have seen tens of thousands of layoffs across major studios and publishers, from Microsoft Gaming and EA to smaller independent outfits. Projects are being cancelled, studios shuttered, and developers who shipped hit games have found themselves without jobs. The post-COVID market correction, rising development costs, and shifting player spending habits have created a brutal environment even for well-established teams.

More than a downturn

What separates a "crash" framing from a typical industry downturn is the structural implication. Downturns are cyclical - crashes reset the market in more fundamental ways, often changing which companies survive and what kinds of games get made afterward. If veteran voices like the Romeros are reaching for that language, it signals concern that the current contraction isn't just a temporary correction but something with longer-term consequences for how the industry operates.

It's also a reminder that the people feeling the squeeze most acutely aren't executives or shareholders - they're developers, artists, designers, and writers who have seen their careers disrupted in ways that may take years to recover from.

The full interview with Brenda and John Romero is available at Game Developer, and given the weight of their perspective, it's worth reading in full.