ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all. Just wanted to say thank you for the kindness shown to our team members today. Whether impacted by today's layoffs or not, everyone who has worked on ESO appreciates the kindness and grace for the contributions they have made to the game. If you see folks out in the while or on social media, make sure to share extra love today.

We are working on following up with leadership on next steps, so we'll update once we have more info.

ZOS_Hadeostry wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to come in and reiterate what Kevin said. We want to keep this thread open. Make sure to be on topic and keep the rules in mind, especially Bashing. Those posters will be actioned accordingly.

Keep it positive, as always, even during this time.

This is to all the devs: I appreciate everything y'all have done over the years and have nothing but gratitude for the many happy memories. Your work has touched many hearts, including my own. Don't be discouraged. What you have created is extraordinary and will last a lifetime. We will weather this storm together.

This is what happens when Microsoft makes its overbearing presence felt.

This doesn’t bode well for ESO - or for communication with the player base.

I hope all those affected manage to find something interesting and rewarding very soon.

Exactly what you would expect from the filth at Microsoft. I cannot even hope they will suffer when/if the AI bubble bursts, because the suits making these decisions will not be the ones who meaningfully suffer.

It might be time to cancel ESO+, and likely leave the game entirely. It's been a nice decade, but continuing to support this megacorp has become untenable.

I am not one for heartfelt platitudes, but I deeply empathise with the affected staff.

Ridiculous

I'm so incredibly upset by this news.

My heart goes out to everyone who lost their job, especially Gina and Mike, and their families. I just want to say thank you so much for everything you've done for the game and its community. Especially Gina, you brought so much warmth and joy to the community and getting to meet you in person at a live event was one of the highlights of my time playing ESO. I really do wish you all the best and hope that you're able to find somewhere that your talent is appreciated, valued, and compensated accordingly. You made this community brighter and it will never be the same without you!

I have been critical of ESO over the years, but only because it's meant a lot to me. I just got back from a long break and was starting to get invested again, since it seemed like the game was turning over a new leaf and going in a good direction with QoL improvements, class refreshes, and more. I was feeling excited to see where the game would go.

This is not to disparage anyone on the team continuing to do excellent creative work - you're all amazing. I just don't think I can keep investing myself - financially and emotionally - in ESO (or any MMOs) after this. I've made some lifelong friends and had great times with ESO, but I can't imagine this bodes well for ZOS, especially if there are more layoffs on the table later this year. It feels like MS is actively trying to kill the studio. I wish that they'd been one of the studios that was allowed to break off and go back to being indie, because I can't stomach supporting MS any longer. I wish I could support ESO more directly without supporting MS, but alas.

Again, best wishes to everyone who has been let go, and those who remain on the team as well. It's been a wonderful 10 years. Thank you for everything!

Recent wrote: »

This is the tail end we are seeing...the beginning of this catastrophy was when eso was sold to microsoft.
Eso is now a whole different, unrecognisable beast.


TES was never a flashy game with nude beings running around wearing bright tattoos and showgirl tail festhers straight out of vegas, neither should eso be this way. My partner and i were worried when we started seeing these changes...it just doestn't match the elderscrolls aesthetic. These changes have made the community behave differently. Im tired of seeing erp playout on zone chat and seeing naked characters breaking the game's immersion for the sake of appeasing new players.

Now we get a rooster with a white cowboy hat for our thieves guild fencer? Bright as bright can be really how does a bight coloured chicken fit into the thieves guild lore? Why is it wearing a cowboy hat? Wt?

I wish I could give this a gazillion awesomes.

"While the total number impacted on ESO is unknown, multiple individuals within Zenimax have suggested to Kotaku that the total number impacted could be as much as half the development team.
(...)
Multiple individuals from Zenimax, both those impacted by the layoff and those still employed, expressed to Kotaku a deep uncertainty as to how The Elder Scrolls Online would continue to function with so few people remaining.
(...)
Update 7/6/2026, 12:30pm ET: Kotaku understands that earlier today, an email was sent out to Bethesda and Zenimax employees, including those on the ESO team, saying the restructuring was for the purpose of improving long-term growth. Going forward, Bethesda plans to focus on its biggest franchises: Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Employees were also told that existing commitments, such as the upcoming ESO Season 1 update that launches in a few days, as well as the upcoming Doom DLC and QuakeCon this year, will continue as planned, though there was no information on future updates or iterations of these things."
https://kotaku.com/elder-scrolls-online-team-seemingly-halved-xbox-layoffs-2000712920

I don't know if I'll get in trouble for posting this but I'm gonna anyway. Look out for this bundle to support the Video Game Worker Hardship Fund. Might be something that can help, even a little.

Haenk wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

How much money would it cost for the community to buy ZoS from Microsoft?

why can't we?

Not to burst your bubble, but running a game with millions registered users, ten thousand permanently online, is not something you can do as a hobby. This needs serious amounts of management, people, knowledge, infrastructure, money.

With 10000 permanently online - I wonder if this is enough of a cashflow. So maybe 15 minutes of daily gaming for ESO+-members (factoring in non-gaming times). So 10000*24*(60/15) -> about 1 million paying subscribers. Let's say 10 million USD/EUR per month, plus some extra cash from the crown store. Is that really a working business model? Actually, I don't think so.

Just to burst more bubbles, for reference, Microsoft paid 7.5 Billion $ for Bethesda. No kick starter for this. Sad that this is even happening. Best wishes to all affected at ZoS.

I'm sad for all of these names, but seeing GIna and Mike on there is like an extra punch to the gut.

I don't post here nearly as often as I used to, but had to chime in and say my heart goes out to the developers both continuing on and whom were let go today. Today is truly a sad day.

OutLaw_Nynx wrote: »

Probably because they (likely) cost the most salary wise. It’s cheaper to axe the senior team members and bring on newbies. Why pay more when you can use AI or hire newbie employee?

Because experience is worth paying for. That is why some jobs pay more the longer you do them.

baratron wrote: »

Alright. I have a question, and it's a serious question:

How much money would it cost for the community to buy ZoS from Microsoft?

It's happened with sports teams. Fans have clubbed together to buy their favourite sports team out from their rich millionaire owners.

Could we do the same? Could we be the first video game community to rescue our game from the evil corporate overlords?

It might sound insane but if sports fans can do massive buyouts, why can't we?

Stop. Just stop.

DeathandDebauchery wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

I have never been so hopeful for ESO's future as during the last 6 months. Everything you've put out, not just in terms of content and updates, but communication as well, has been absolutely stellar.

I have had the exact opposite experience. The game feels gutted by replacing chapters with tasks and I don't see that communication has improved. Maybe that's why I am not completely suprised by this. Unhappy, but not surprised.

Respectfully, I do think your in the minority opinion on that one, and the player count reflects this. ESO's player count was at an all-time low in November/December with the post-solstice debacle and that was at the peak end of the "Chapter" content approach. Its been on a steady climb back now to regular numbers since they started focusing on player experience and micro-content. If anything, this has just removed wind from the sails of a MAJOR ESO Resurgence. While it's still an overall decline from the COVID days, the fact that the population is still approximately at the level it was 3 years ago despite being at its lowest point ever 6 months ago is kind of crazy.

Yeah they had regained so many players. They had more people using the group finder than ever before. All because Xbox bought a bunch of studios they had no business buying (even fought to do this in court), refused to treat them as long term investments and give them enough time to actually make hits but instead take resources that makes things even worse, then hit with even more layoffs because they think AI will save them.

Does the new head of XBOX play or develop games? That's not something that has a quick turnaround. They take years. I really don't understand the ai bubble. The AI is bad at its job

wenchmore420b14_ESO wrote: »

Haenk wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

How much money would it cost for the community to buy ZoS from Microsoft?

why can't we?

Not to burst your bubble, but running a game with millions registered users, ten thousand permanently online, is not something you can do as a hobby. This needs serious amounts of management, people, knowledge, infrastructure, money.

With 10000 permanently online - I wonder if this is enough of a cashflow. So maybe 15 minutes of daily gaming for ESO+-members (factoring in non-gaming times). So 10000*24*(60/15) -> about 1 million paying subscribers. Let's say 10 million USD/EUR per month, plus some extra cash from the crown store. Is that really a working business model? Actually, I don't think so.

Just to burst more bubbles, for reference, Microsoft paid 7.5 Billion $ for Bethesda. No kick starter for this. Sad that this is even happening. Best wishes to all affected at ZoS.

My thoughts were along the lines that ZoS can't be worth as much as half what it was when Microsoft purchased it, because of all the talent that's been let go. Both in the Project Blackbird and Community Manager layoffs last year, then with all of today's announcements.

Haenk is right though - keeping megaservers online 24/7 is much more of a continuous ongoing cost than keeping a sports ground in good order. Well, it was an idea.

I literally have no idea what the right thing to do is regarding cancelling my (multiple) ESO Plus memberships. There's the argument that if we do, Microsoft will see that we're angry about these layoffs of valuable human staff - but then there's also the argument that losing more money will make the game die faster.

For me, it would be a symbolic cancellation because I buy a year's subscription at a time, and they only just renewed in April and June.