Following the recent layoffs hitting The Elder Scrolls Online developer Zenimax Online Studios, former content designer on the title, Andrew Young, took to social media to discuss his disappointment at the event. In a series of posts, Young spoke about how fans of the MMORPG will “never know” all the effort that went into creating it and said that the team “deserved much better.”
“I’m just so angry today,” wrote Young. “People will never know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making ESO or how we basically funded other failing projects while never getting enough resources to really keep up with our release cadence. The team deserved much better.”
In a following post, Young also discussed the fact that there likely aren’t enough people working on The Elder Scrolls Online left after the recent layoffs.
“I’ve been gone for a while, but talking to people today and realizing there’s really no one left and no changing it now makes my heart ache. For the people, our game, who we were as a team and a studio. This is a serious loss, and I don’t think people know how much.”
Layoffs hitting the studio in a major way came to light thanks to a number of its now-former employees taking to LinkedIn to confirm that they had been affected as well. Community manager Jessica Folsom even took the forums for The Elder Scrolls Online to confirm that the layoffs had been bad enough to warrant the studio reconsidering its planned content roadmap for the game.
“Looking beyond Season One, the roadmaps we previously shared will be shifting. We want to take the time to evaluate the work in front of us and then lock down an updated schedule. While we’d love to share concrete details today, stepping back to get our plans straight will let us come back to you with a clear timeline.”
The total number of jobs at Zenimax Online Studios affected by Xbox’s recent layoffs hasn’t yet been confirmed. However, the cuts were seemingly quite indiscriminate, with many affected workers having previously worked at the studio for more than a decade.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had announced the layoffs earlier this week, confirming that around 1,600 jobs had been cut across the division. She also confirmed that more layoffs are planned over the course of the current fiscal year, with a target of 3,200 cuts by the end of June 2027.
“I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building Xbox,” said Sharma. “Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved Xbox. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.”
Sharma also announced that the Xbox division will be headed up by a new COO – Helen Chiang – who will be taking over the role from Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after having worked at the company for 17 years. Chiang had previously worked with the Xbox Live and Minecraft teams.
