Huge Layoffs at Zenimax, a lot of ESO devs impacted

raezuvlite · July 6

This is devastating news. I've played ESO since launch and it has gotten me through some of the most difficult times in my life. Not just the game, but the livestreams as well. Seeing Gina and other staff go out like this feels like a punch to the gut for sure! I can't even imagine how you guys must be feeling today. 😕 I wish everyone the best in moving foward and I hope you all can find your footing soon!

Tenthirty2 · July 6

What the??
:'(

ob1ken0bi · July 6

Is there a hotline or anything for ESO addicts?
I feel if this suddenly closes, some are going to crash hard.
Seriously though, this news is sad and disappointing. I have played for years.
We really are in trouble with AI. It is taking over jobs and soon some wont even know what is real and what is AI.

shadyjane62 · July 6

12 years I have been in this game. My husband and I were day one players. He gave up and went to PS5 single player games but I have been here all the time.
For the most part it has been a terrific experience. I haven't always agreed with the way things have gone but it still got me here year after year. I will miss a lot of people I don't even know because their absence will be felt.

Will hope for the best for all the people that have called ESO home for over a decade.

Grasshoppermouse · July 6

This is so upsetting to learn. I really thought things were looking up for ESO with all of these new and amazing updates. I wish corporations would learn that all the money and value of their company comes from their employees, and that having a great team of employees is far more important than attracting a bunch of trend-chasing shareholders.

I'm guessing they're hoping AI will pick up the slack, but AI can never replace the work of a human dev team that can create with intentionality. A lot of companies are finding themselves frantically trying to rehire employees laid off for AI because, quite frankly, AI is not able to do the work of a human as well as a human can, and the companies replacing humans with AI are failing. It can code, but the code it creates is less reliable and less secure than human written code. It can create content in large volumes and quickly, but ultimately, the content tends to be very repetitive, follows the same patterns, and becomes boring very quickly. Microsoft should also realize that ESO and all video games are optional entertainment, so if they fail to keep users engaged, then people will not pay, and that it's the human devs who are capable of understanding and delivering what users want.

Hamburglarjones · July 6

Condolences to the team. Soulless corporations destroying everything with a glimmer of hope so the billionaire class can horde more wealth. Disgusting.

FlameDark · July 6

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/

They're not even done with the layoffs!? They only did half today, and another half is expected to occur later down the line (most likely the first week of July next year). So TESO could still get hit again? I am absolutely flabbergasted, horrified, and heartbroken for the TESO team. Yet again another greedy corporation is destroying everything in the name of margins... This is just awful. Here I thought Sony was the big baddie of the gaming corporation but I see I was wrong!

Btw the reason I said the next layoffs will probably be the first week of July 2027 is because the beginning of Microsoft's fiscal year is July 1st, so at the end of June they look at their budget and start slicing immediately starting the first week of their new year. So the second half of the cuts will probably be July of next year.

Freelancer_ESO · July 7

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.

If you look over multiple years on Steam, you'll see the numbers for ESO tend to be a bit seasonal. Having weaker numbers in November/December than in other parts of the year is pretty normal.

If you compare the month to previous years month, you'll see that trend is generally downward in recent years.

Ex: June

June 2026: 9,850.8
June 2025: 13,157.7
June 2024: 14,418.1
June 2023: 15,327.5
June 2022: 16,266.6
June 2021: 21,282.8
June 2020: 23,003.5
June 2019: 17,569.1
June 2018: 15,447.4
June 2017: 9,914.6
June 2016: 2,818.7

Personally, I'm kind of surprised they didn't either push up the release of the story stuff for Season 1 or hold off on the firing for long enough to see how it actually plays out so you'd have a better idea on the direction you should be moving towards in the future.

DrScott59 · July 7

"I sure picked a bad day to give up Skooma."

It was only a matter of time until the top management decided that their mid-level managers were not adopting AI fast enough, and the way to force AI adoption was to layoff humans sooner rather than later. I don't think that will end well for them, but I'm not a billionaire so what do I know?

Best wishes to all those who lost their jobs. Just keep in mind that there are other companies out there, some with a bit more heart than MSFT. Stay strong!

Niao · July 7

Can't imagine ESO without Gina :c

DragonRacer · July 7

This has honestly made me sick to my stomach all day.

Still feel sick.

I had hoped watching everything I loved and everyone I knew from BioWare be slowly dismantled was horrible enough and the last of it for me. I dumbly thought a franchise as large as Elder Scrolls would be safe.

Another sad lesson to never assume anything nor ever hope for anything good and long-term ever again. After an Elder Millennial lifetime of that negative reinforcement, you’d have thought I’d have learned my lesson by now.

What very little is still good in this world, AI is killing off.

But, please, everyone continue to enjoy the goofy Boomer Facebook pictures AI generates. Definitely worth the heat-death of the world that’s descending upon us. When nobody has jobs anymore after AI has “replaced” us all, who will be left to buy the products?

AvalonRanger · July 7

In Japan: Major developer = mostly publisher also.
In North America : Developer is not publisher mostly.

So, this situation usually happen. 11 years from 2014, is this end of Tamriel second age?

wenchmore420b14_ESO · July 7

baratron wrote: »

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.

Agree 100%. Just renewed mine this month, so I have a year to see what happens. I have been so excited about the new stuff. Have been trying to get my guild back active again. Playing more after a several year health issue. All my joy in Tamriel turned to sadness. We can only hope for the best. This is sadder than when Loremaster Laurance left.

Lord_Trurl · July 7

I am heartbroken to read about this. I love playing this game, and I feel for the Dev team very strongly. Both for those who have lost their jobs, and for those who remain in an atmosphere of fear and pressure and maybe losing their jobs very soon.

Everyone contributed to a game we've been playing over a decade, and to a community, and to a workplace which no doubt included many close friendships. The loss of that must be devastating to them. I'd love to thank everyone individually but I'd be afraid of leaving some out, especially, failing to mention those who are dedicated to contributing but not visible to the public. I thank you all, each and every one, for what you've created that we (the players) have enjoyed.

I hope that ESO game and team, and the ESO community, manage to weather this storm and recover in future. And I hope that the real people impacted the most (the ZOS team especially those laid-off) manage to survive this pain and have good outcomes eventually. For whatever it's worth, we support you and thank you.

JimT722 · July 7

My confidence in ESO just went from very high to non existent. they were cooking with these updates. I might be done.

shadoza · July 7

Wolfshade wrote: »

Honestly, they should think about open a company-headquarter in a saver country and leavin this hole.

What a mean thing to say.

Silaf · July 7

spartaxoxo wrote: »

So many staff members is a really bad sign. Can't believe Gina and Finn got hit. I'll miss seeing them. I'm so sad for all affected.

I'm sorry for Finn but i rather see a change in comunity managers. I'm not interested in dogs or pikles.

Balibe · July 7

I just hope the ESO team does not remain quiet on this and let the players know something so we do not keep speculating on how the changes effect the state of the game as it will effect how/if we play.

ESO needs to address the community on how this effects the game. I understand they are dealing with this but so are we. An announcement sooner will be better than later or not responding.

PeacefulAnarchy · July 7

Balibe wrote: »

I just hope the ESO team does not remain quiet on this and let the players know something so we do not keep speculating on how the changes effect the state of the game as it will effect how/if we play.

ESO needs to address the community on how this effects the game. I understand they are dealing with this but so are we. An announcement sooner will be better than later or not responding.

They posted within minutes.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/695707/an-update-from-the-eso-team/p1

I think that's as much as we can reasonably expect for the next week. I doubt they know what they're going to do beyond the next couple of weeks.

Hymzir · July 7

When subclassing was introduced into the game, I saw it as the 'jump the shark' moment for ESO and advised people to wrap up their things to do list in ESO since it probably wasn't gonna be around in a year or two. While I had nothing against the idea, it felt so half-baked and poorly thought out in execution, I predicted that ZOS would be tied up wrangling the mess into something even halfway semi-playable for the foreseeable future. A bit later, I stopped playing myself. Was gone for almost a year and only came back because of the new direction the new management was taking the game.

It felt like a genuine resurgence for the game was about to take place, and I saw no reason why it wouldn't stay around for 10 more years. Why it wouldn't be the thirty-year game they kept talking about. And based on what others have been saying, I wasn't alone in this thought.

So this decision feels like a really boneheaded move.

What really annoys me is that they had somehow managed to get people like Jeff Grubb, Bill Slavicsek, and Richard Baker on their roster. And now they give them the axe? That is beyond daft. These people are not just veterans of the industry; they are legends of the industry.

With the debacle surrounding Windows 11, and the endless money pit that is their foolish AI venture, one would think that Microsoft would desperately hang on to those projects that actually turn a profit, but guess not.

Oh, well.. Guess I'll need to advise my friends to wrap up their unfinished business in ESO 'cause it seems it won't be around in a year or two.

shadoza · July 7

Sad to hear.
I am not surprised. I have seen this behavior in gaming companies before now.

I will say a couple things that others will likely not want to hear:

It is not corporate's fault. No, it is not. Downsizing happens when a company of any size is struggling to survive. Blaming 'big corps' is unfair to the many people that make up that corporation. A corporation is not one person, it is a collection of people, some of who lost their jobs.
When a business down-sizes, the talent and skills is often not a consideration but rather who is paid more. By laying off the high-earners, and those with senor benefits more employees can be retained and spread across the jobs that are being vacated. This is not a good way of doing things, but it is a common solution made by investor-sensitive employment practices. Money. It is always about money.

zendyraub17_ESO · July 7

My heart goes out to those we lost today. I can not see how the game could ever be the same without these folks as a part of it. Our world is changing and somehow this does not make me feel it is for the better.
Good luck to you all and God Bless.

Zendyra

wrrn519_ESO · July 7

Blizz is next. Their layoffs might not be as drastic, but it will come. MS has always been like this, even with Fable, when that first came out. I think they bought Lionhead studios back then or something. I was worried about MS buying out these companies because they are a business and the bottom line is always the dollar not the people. So any off years of cash making and investors not happy= bye bye.

Blackrim · July 7

I can't wait to be free of the demon that is Microsoft one day.

Long Live Elder Scrolls Online

Primordialaeon · July 7

Why sell out to microsoft to begin with? not to rub salt in the wound but Zenimax sold its soul to a demon and this is absolutely easy to see coming. microsoft has a clear track record revealed to the whole public. Zos should of done their home work on it before making the deal.

my heart goes out to those who have been layed off and to their families. but by god this was expected to happen.

JillWarrick · July 7

shadoza wrote: »

Sad to hear.
I am not surprised. I have seen this behavior in gaming companies before now.

I will say a couple things that others will likely not want to hear:
It is not corporate's fault. No, it is not. Downsizing happens when a company of any size is struggling to survive. Blaming 'big corps' is unfair to the many people that make up that corporation. A corporation is not one person, it is a collection of people, some of who lost their jobs.

When a business down-sizes, the talent and skills is often not a consideration but rather who is paid more. By laying off the high-earners, and those with senor benefits more employees can be retained and spread across the jobs that are being vacated. This is not a good way of doing things, but it is a common solution made by investor-sensitive employment practices. Money. It is always about money.

When people blame corpo, they always mean the ones at the top. In this case, people are rightfully blaming Asha Sharma, Satya Nadella and the entire board of executives at Microsoft. It is factually and objectively corporate's fault here. For their severe mismanagement, for their idiotic AI investments, for their own bloated salaries and for their gigantic acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Please don't forget that this is Microsoft we're dealing with. They're not some cutesy indie startup. They are as of the time I'm typing this the FOURTH most powerful corporation on Earth (by market cap). And I don't feel like I should list the amount of other colossally evil things they're doing right now.

Silaf · July 7

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.

What's the difference between bashing and disagreeing? I did previously ask support but got no answer.

It's really a mistery why they decided to remove so much of the staff when ESO made record profit and is still earning a lot.
I guess we can say goodbye to new zones from now on and will only be left with reskinned endevors.

A BIG thanks to all developers for the fun and adventures they gave us thus far. You gave so much happiness to many people. Your heroics will not be forgotten.

Really really sad.

hiyde · July 7

It is not corporate's fault. No, it is not. Downsizing happens when a company of any size is struggling to survive. Blaming 'big corps' is unfair to the many people that make up that corporation. A corporation is not one person, it is a collection of people, some of who lost their jobs.

Struggling to survive?

This Multi-Trillion Dollar megacorp has posted record net profits 3 years in a row, nearly 300 billion in just the past 3 years.

Sentinel · July 7

Microsoft mismanagement never hurts the people at the top. The costs are always borne by those on the bottom, and it absolutely sucks that ZOS is being gutted all because some exec's felt they couldn't extract enough money from an above-all-else pursuit of AI and gamepass.

Molag Bal might have created the first vampire, but Microsoft has put him to shame.

Luneca · July 7

Struggling to survive?

This Multi-Trillion Dollar megacorp has posted record net profits 3 years in a row, nearly 300 billion in just the past 3 years.

Except, if you read that, it wasn't driven by gaming but by Cloud and AI -- two places where the market is expected to be hitting its limit and there hasn't been any concrete ROI. The profit part coming from investors and customers expecting an ROI that haven't obtained it yet.

There's pressure from both the investor to gain money and return it better than competitors, and then from the consumer of said products that aren't seeing any real return but are driving profit in these AI companies like Microsoft.

All of it creates risk. Especially in an environment where some are arguing the US economy is already in a recession and that there's next to zero growth in the economy when you subtract AI from the equation.

A person who is monitoring financial risk and plans for it will take action long before the risk factors cause an issue. Not wait until they do and make a reaction. Failing to do so would cut investor confidence because businesses are expected to be able to forecast the future. Misreading the market is the worst kind of risk a business can take.

That's happening in the upper system that encapsulates ZOS. Now, then let's talk about ZOS itself.

With the number of players dropping, boom-bust cycling of players (eventually equates to a net loss of players), a change in direction, negative sentiment around the game, etc. -- does anyone honestly believe that doesn't look like massive risk to someone that would be running the numbers?

Risk planners aren't going to be fooled; they know when a business plan starts to look shaky and when to cut the cord or start making changes. This happens after ever merger and acquisition in the software field because standalone companies have to make risky moves in the first place to get noticed for an acquisition, but paradoxically that same type of behavior cannot continue after being acquired because those that acquired them expect a steady and stable income flow or production in return for the acquisition.

if anyone here has been part of an acquisition, even outside of software, you know that most of the time people get cut. Wages decrease, benefits change, etc. -- it's incredibly rare for them to actually get better. If they did, then that means the company you work for that got acquired must have been one of a kind and literally blowing past every metric possible to the point that they have to keep you and everyone that works with you around to protect their better than expected profits.

^ Now does the above sound like ZOS? Thinking deeply, it does not to me. And that's why it does not surprise me.