The founder of Alpha Dog Games, a studio once owned by Xboxhas just updated its LinkedIn profile, and it seems to indicate that the studio has been revived as an independent company. Alpha Dog Games was officially shut down by Xbox in May 2024.
Founded way back in 2012, Alpha Dog Games is a Canadian developer that primarily works with mobile titles. Alpha Dog Games was then acquired by ZeniMax Media in 2019, which itself was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. Alpha Dog is best known for its work with Mighty Dooma mobile dungeon crawler spinoff that received mixed reviews from critics due to its abundance of microtransactions and its repetitive gameplay formula. In May 2024, Alpha Dog Games shut down along with Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin, with former head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty (now Xbox Chief Content Officer) expressing his appreciation for “the team's creativity in bringing Doom to new players” in an official statement confirming the studio's closure.
The Mighty Doom developer seems to have been revived after being shut down by Xbox
Shawn Woods, the founder of Alpha Dog Games, apparently just updated his LinkedIn page. Spotted by Vice, in the “Experience” section of Wood's LinkedIn profile, the Alpha Dog Games listing now has the accompanying caption, “Independently owned, again.” This listing also states that Woods has been a founder of the studio since May 2025. Together, these two elements suggest that Alpha Dog Games may have revived itself last year and operated as an independent company since then. Shawn Woods has not directly confirmed the status of Alpha Dog Games or made any official statement at the time of writing.
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Along with apparently still working at Alpha Dog Games, Woods is the founder and current CEO of Brave Bear Ventures, a company that “helps founders, startups, game studios and innovation teams turn bold ideas into products people love,” according to his official LinkedIn page. Woods is also the co-founder and current vice-president of the Interactive Society of Nova Scotia, a company that advocates for video game development in Nova Scotia.
On July 6, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that “approximately 3,200” Xbox developers would be affected by layoffs in fiscal year 2027. 1,600 Xbox employees have already been affected by these cuts. While these layoffs have spanned nearly every Xbox-owned studio, some of the hardest hit developers were Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Arkane Lyon.
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Compulsions Games and Double Fine have already followed a similar trajectory to Alpha Dog Games, if Wood's latest LinkedIn update is indeed any indication of the studio's current status. Both Compulsion and Double Fine were cut from the Xbox but have been able to thrive independently, and in some cases have been able to retain their IP. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, on the other hand, have entered into agreements with new, as yet unconfirmed owners. Arkane has unfortunately been left without a parachute and is currently working with the French government to try and keep its doors open.
