Former ZeniMax Online Developers Form Ironroot Games After Traumatic Layoffs

A new independent studio has emerged from the ongoing turbulence that has reshaped the games industry over the past few years. Former ZeniMax Online developers have established Ironroot Games, positioning the studio as a developer owned, people first team built in direct response to what multiple workers previously described as inhumane and disgusting layoffs across Microsoft’s gaming organization. Ironroot Games is now live at Ironroot Games, marking a clear signal that the team is moving forward with a fresh start after a period defined by abrupt cuts and major project disruption.

The context behind Ironroot’s formation is familiar to anyone tracking the industry’s post boom contraction. Microsoft’s layoffs impacted more than 9000 people across the company, including substantial reductions and cancellations inside its gaming division. Multiple studios and teams experienced restructuring, project shutdowns, and rapid headcount cuts that left developers describing the experience in severe terms. For ZeniMax Online staff in particular, the cancellation of Project Blackbird and the layoffs that followed became a defining flashpoint, not just for the work that vanished but for the human cost of having years of identity, progress, and career direction abruptly wiped away.

The announcement and the clearest look at Ironroot’s philosophy comes from an interview published by GamesIndustry Biz. In that interview, Quentin Cobb, who serves as chief executive officer and creative director at Ironroot Games and previously worked as principal gameplay designer at ZeniMax Online, describes the layoffs as deeply destabilizing and says he is still processing what happened. Cobb frames the emotional impact in a way many developers will recognize, the idea that creative work becomes tightly tied to personal identity, making sudden cancellation and redundancy feel like losing a major part of yourself, not just a job.

Ironroot Games is also notable because it is the second studio specifically tied to former ZeniMax Online staff after Sackbird Studios was formed in October 2025. That pattern is becoming more visible across the industry, where laid off developers are increasingly choosing to regroup into smaller teams rather than re enter the traditional publisher pipeline immediately, especially when the last few years have shown how quickly fully funded projects can still be cut.

Cobb is joined by fellow founding member Elaine Gómez, who acts as Ironroot’s principal gameplay designer and studio culture leader. Gómez’s background brings an additional perspective to the studio’s mission. While she is one of the few founding members not coming directly from ZeniMax layoffs, she shares her own experience of a traumatic triple A layoff story from her time at former NetEase backed studio Worlds Untold. She describes a situation where the team believed the project was fully funded for its planned timeline, where prototype milestones were being cleared successfully, and then the studio was hit with sudden cuts just before Thanksgiving 2024. The message from both founders is consistent: they want to build a studio that reduces the chance of repeating that kind of blindside scenario.

The core differentiator Ironroot is aiming for is structural, not just creative. The studio is being set up as developer owned with a people first approach, emphasizing that team members are not interchangeable parts. Cobb is also outspoken about compensation transparency and revenue sharing. His position is that it is too common for the top of an organization to capture a disproportionate share of the upside while the broader team receives comparatively little, and that Ironroot intends to make revenue distribution fair and clear so that the people building the game are directly rewarded by the success they create.

As for what Ironroot is building, the founders are intentionally keeping details under wraps for now. They describe the project as personal and small budget, and they are avoiding revealing specifics too early to reduce the risk of overcommitting publicly and needing to backtrack as development evolves. They also acknowledge that early progress may be slower because the studio is small and some team members are starting part time as the new operation ramps up.

Ironroot Games is another reminder that even when layoffs cause damage, they also create a new wave of developer led studios that prioritize sustainability, dignity, and long term resilience over scale at any cost. Whether that model can withstand the realities of funding, publishing, and live operations is the next big test, but the intent is clear: build a healthier studio culture from day 1, and build games in a way that does not discard the people making them.

What do you want to see most from developer owned studios in 2026, stronger revenue sharing, clearer project funding transparency, or smaller games with tighter creative identity?