About 1,600 developers have departed Xbox as part of its major reset, with another 1,600 to follow over the next 12 months. Among the many developers hit, including id Software, which is reportedly just a support studio, is Bethesda. Speaking to IGN, both existing and former staff revealed that more than 50 employees are gone.
The worst part is that this includes “key, high-performing people in the trenches” who were working on The Elder Scrolls 6. “Their loss will have a substantial and cascading effect on the game and morale of this studio.” Another individual said that layoffs have comprised “a mix of every discipline: programmers, artists, and designers. One person who’s been at the company since Morrowind was cut.”
Unfortunately, the days ahead aren’t likely to get any easier. One developer said that the team is worried about being “replaced by cheaper, contracted labor.” Alternatively, it may “hire folks to replace them that will need to be onboarded (our tools are proprietary, other devs aren’t going to know how they work), resulting in more delays, and we’ll need to crunch to make up the time.”
Announced in June 2018, there’s been a lot of hype around The Elder Scrolls 6, further fueled by the lack of information and updates from Bethesda. Given how influential Skyrim has been, and how popular it remains today, it’s a given that even the development team was looking forward to it.
But after these layoffs, things have reportedly taken a significant turn. Another staff member said, “We’ve all been very excited and hyped for The Elder Scrolls 6, and this has had a crushing effect on morale. We were already running a tight ship and are worried about this delaying the game (though a final release date was not yet chosen as far as we know).”
The Elder Scrolls 6 doesn’t have a release date, though Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims it’s still two or more years out (which would make it more than a decade after its initial reveal). How much of that will be influenced by Bethesda crunching to get the game done? Time will tell, so stay tuned for further updates.
