adminIronroot Games is an independent studio founded by former ZeniMax Online developers after widespread layoffs disrupted their careers. Led by CEO and creative director Quentin Cobb, the team aims to make an original indie game while building a collaborative, people-first workplace. Its plans reflect both the opportunities and financial difficulties facing small studios in today’s games industry.
Ironroot Games emerges after ZeniMax layoffs
In July 2025, Microsoft’s cuts across its gaming division included Quentin Cobb, then a principal gameplay designer at ZeniMax Online Studios. Like many experienced developers, he found it difficult to secure another role in a challenging job market. He began considering a different route: making a game independently.
Ironroot Games was announced in December 2025. The studio is made up entirely of veteran developers affected by layoffs at major game companies. Cobb is joined by principal gameplay designer and studio culture lead Elaine Gómez, among other contributors.
The team’s formation follows the cancellation of Project Blackbird, a ZeniMax Online MMORPG reportedly in development since 2018. The project was cancelled during Microsoft’s July 2025 cuts. Another studio formed by former ZeniMax staff, Sackbird Studios, was announced in October 2025. Cobb says he and Sackbird co-founder Doug Carroll have shared advice and offered mutual support. ZeniMax Online founder Matt Firor has also informally encouraged the new studios since leaving ZeniMax after Project Blackbird’s cancellation.
Practical context: A new studio can give developers more creative control, but it also means taking on the work of securing funding, setting a manageable scope and reaching players.
A collaborative alternative to AAA development
Cobb previously worked at Naughty Dog, Daybreak and Sony before joining ZeniMax Online. He says that in large studios, developers can sometimes be assigned a narrow set of responsibilities. At Ironroot, the goal is to make room for ideas from across the team, including input on design and story.
Gómez describes the studio’s approach as putting people before the project. The founders believe a respectful, healthy work environment matters to the quality of the game, and that team members should feel heard and supported. Cobb also wants the game’s scope to match the size and capacity of the team.
That means planning a project the team can complete in a reasonable timeframe without relying on crunch or unsustainable workloads. Cobb sees controlling scope as an important lesson from large productions, where projects can grow beyond what is practical. For a small studio, agreeing on what can realistically be built and shipped is a useful early step.
Ironroot has not yet shared details about its first game. Cobb has described it as a personal indie project with a deliberately limited budget, but says it is too early to provide specifics. The studio is also mindful of the difficulties of financing a game in the current market.
A part-time studio with a flexible team
Ironroot Games is keeping its operating model flexible while it gets established. Its contributors number in the double digits, according to Cobb and Gómez. Some are paid for work based on its scope, while others are contributing on a deferred basis as the studio develops.
The founders recognize that contributors’ availability may change if they find other jobs or have shifting responsibilities. Gómez, who also founded and serves as creative director of Midnight Hour Games, spends 10–15 hours a week on Ironroot. She expects the team’s capacity to change over time and says participation is voluntary.
For now, the group is working around people’s schedules to develop a prototype and put ideas into the game engine. The founders also acknowledge that contributors need to earn a living. Their immediate focus is to build the project sustainably and position the studio to support more work when funding becomes available.
Plans for transparent pay and revenue sharing
If the studio secures funding, Cobb intends to share clear information with the team about income, expenses and compensation. He is also considering a revenue-sharing plan for employees in addition to base pay. The precise structure has not been finalized, but his stated aim is for the people who make the game to receive a fair share of its success.
Gómez, who is president of the nonprofit support organization Latinx in Gaming, says compensation should be part of conversations about equality. Ironroot wants its workers’ expertise and individual needs to be taken seriously, and hopes to create a workplace where people can rely on one another and feel valued.
Those plans depend on the studio finding financial backing. Cobb notes that fundraising is difficult, particularly when developers must balance an artistic vision with the need to present a commercially viable project. That tension is common for independent teams: they need to make work they believe in while also finding a way to fund it.
Founders drawing on difficult industry experiences
Gómez is one of the Ironroot founders who did not come from ZeniMax. Before joining the studio, she worked as a principal gameplay designer at Worlds Untold, a NetEase-backed studio developing an unannounced action-adventure. Worlds Untold closed in November 2024. Gómez recalls that the team had been told its project was funded for its planned duration and that its prototype work had received positive feedback. The studio’s closure therefore came as a surprise.
Cobb is also dealing with the cancellation of Project Blackbird, which he had worked on for almost five years. He believed the project was progressing, making its sudden end especially difficult. He has described the cancellation as deeply upsetting for him and for other people affected by it.
Layoffs and cancelled projects have left many game developers facing uncertain careers. Starting an independent studio is not a simple solution: funding, staffing and completing a game all bring significant challenges. Still, Ironroot Games gives Cobb, Gómez and their colleagues a chance to shape their own project and workplace. Their approach centers on realistic scope, open collaboration and the idea that the people making a game should share in its success.
