Founder of Alpha Dog Games, a studio he once owned xboxThey just updated their LinkedIn profile, which seems to suggest that the studio has been resurrected as an independent company. Alpha Dog Games was officially shut down by Xbox in May 2024.
Founded in 2012, Alpha Dog Games is a Canadian developer primarily developing mobile titles. Alpha Dog Games was acquired by ZeniMax Media in 2019, which in turn was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. Alpha Dog is best known for its work: Mighty Doomis a mobile dungeon crawler spinoff that received mixed reviews from critics due to its abundance of microtransactions and repetitive gameplay mechanics. In May 2024, Alpha Dog Games closed along with Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin, with former Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty (now Xbox Chief Content Officer) expressing gratitude for “the team's creativity in bringing Doom to new players” in an official statement confirming the studio's closure.
It looks like the developers of Mighty Doom have made a comeback after the Xbox shutdown.
It appears that Shawn Woods, founder of Alpha Dog Games, has recently updated his LinkedIn page. In the “Experiences” section of Woods' LinkedIn profile, discovered by Vice, the Alpha Dog Games listing now has the caption “Independently Owned Again.” The listing states that Woods has established a studio since May 2025. Taken together, these two factors suggest that Alpha Dog Games may have been revived last year and has since operated as an independent company. Shawn Woods has not directly confirmed the status of Alpha Dog Games or issued an official statement at the time of writing.
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Woods, who appears to still be working at Alpha Dog Games, is the founder and current CEO of Brave Bear Ventures. Brave Bear Ventures is a company that, according to its official LinkedIn page, “helps founders, startups, game studios, and innovation teams turn bold ideas into products people love.” Woods is also a founding member 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 during fiscal 2027. 1,600 Xbox employees have already been affected by these cuts. These layoffs spanned nearly all Xbox-owned studios, but 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 Woods' recent LinkedIn update is indeed any indication of the studio's current state. Compulsion and Double Fine have both spun off from Xbox, but have gained independence and, in some cases, been able to retain their IP. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, on the other hand, have signed deals with new owners who are yet to be confirmed. Unfortunately, Arkane has been left without a parachute and is currently working with the French government to try to keep the door open.
