When a corporation lays off over 9.000 employees, one inevitably asks: What went wrong? In Microsoft's case, the answer is: almost everything. The gaming division was hit particularly hard, including Xbox, Rare, King, The Initiative, and ZeniMax Media, the studio behind Bethesda. The situation there wave of layoffs It was not only large, but according to reports also chaotic, disrespectful and simply dehumanizing for many of those affected.
Several ZeniMax developers, including current and those who have already been laid off, speak to Game developer It openly revealed what often remains behind closed Slack channels. No early warning system, no structure, no one to contact – instead, employees were kicked out of their systems without even knowing if they were still part of the company. A comment from the report sums it up perfectly:It was inhumane. Period."
15 years with Bethesda and then a dismissal via Slack
Central figures surrounding The Elder Scrolls Online They were laid off. People who had carried the game for years, who had built up knowledge and structures, are suddenly gone. Autumn Mitchell, Senior QA at ZeniMax and part of the ZWU-CWA union, puts it drastically: “A third of our institutional experience is simply gone."
What does this mean for Bethesda's future? Hard to say. Anyone who thinks you can simply replace decades of expertise with "fresh minds“replace, has no idea how game development works. Projects like The Elder Scrolls Online They don't live on PowerPoint visions, but on people who understand the code, the tools, the team and the peculiarities of their engine, often over many years.
And yes, layoffs are not uncommon in the industry. But the criticism here is not directed solely at the measure itself, but at its execution, which was careless, cold, and carried out without any apparent consideration for those affected or the studios that have to absorb the damage.
The future of Xbox? A question of trust.
Microsoft's strategic plans in the gaming sector have long resembled a puzzle with missing pieces. They acquire studios like Bethesda at great expense, only to fire the creative minds that make those studios what they are years later. And all this supposedly to "increase efficiency"—a euphemism used whenever they don't want to admit: We're saving money at the expense of those who make our games possible.
This is no way to build trust, neither with players nor within the industry itself. Anyone still working for Microsoft or under the Bethesda umbrella is probably wondering: Am I next?
When corporations like Microsoft treat their studios like interchangeable assets, little of the creative core remains. And then nothing else will help. Fallout 5, when there is no one left to develop it.
What do you think: Has Microsoft permanently damaged trust with this move – or is this just another sad industry trend? Discuss it with us in the comments.
