Alpha Dog Games is independent again two years after Microsoft shut it down

Alpha Dog Games — the Halifax studio behind mobile Doom spin-off Mighty DOOM — has re-emerged as an independent developer, two years after Microsoft closed it. Founder Shawn Woods confirmed the news in a statement to Kotaku, saying the studio is "once again independently owned by its founders."

Woods says Microsoft worked with the team through the transition, and that Alpha Dog has spent the past several months updating the Unity-based engine framework that Mighty DOOM ran on. No specific projects have been announced yet, but the studio is actively talking to partners, publishers, and licensors. Woods noted that community reaction over the past few days "honestly exceeded our expectations" — a sign that Mighty DOOM still has a fanbase worth building on.

Alpha Dog was founded in 2012 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and built a catalog of mobile games including Wraithborne and Ninja Golf before Zenimax Media acquired it in 2019. Microsoft then absorbed the studio along with the rest of Zenimax in 2021. Mighty DOOM launched on Android and iOS in March 2023 after a two-year soft launch period, but was shut down in 2024 when Microsoft closed the studio. Alpha Dog's revival mirrors what happened to Tango Gameworks — the Hi-Fi Rush developer that Microsoft also shuttered in 2024 before Krafton picked it up.

The news lands against a grim backdrop at Xbox, where 1,600 people have already been laid off and another 1,600 cuts are planned over the next year. Several studios are being cut loose or sold off, including Double Fine and Compulsion going independent and Ninja Theory and Undead Labs finding new owners. Alpha Dog clawing its way back is a rare bright spot in that wave of restructuring.