Amidst the layoffs hitting Bethesda, it looks like the studio also canceled an in-development PvP shooter. As caught by social media user Timur222, the LinkedIn profile for a laid-off 12-year veteran of the company – Alex Jones – notes that he supported “the production on an unannounced PvP FPS title (subsequently canceled), contributing to scheduling and cross-team coordination.
Unfortunately, no other details about this canceled project have been revealed. Jones’ note about working on cross-team coordination at Bethesda Softworks as a whole rather than just for Bethesda Game Studios indicates that it could have been in development at one of the studios under the company.
A likely candidate for this is a project that was reportedly being developed at MachineGames, which was described as being similar to Rainbow Six Siege. While the studio itself hadn’t confirmed any details, the title is believed to involve attacker vs. defender gameplay similar to Ubisoft’s shooter.
In the meantime, the studio has spoken about wanting to make more games in its Wolfenstein series. Last year, having wrapped up development on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s The Order of Giants expansion, studio co-founder and director Jerk Gustafsson said that MachineGames saw the Wolfenstein series as a trilogy.
“So that journey, for B.J., even during those first weeks at id when we mapped out New Order, we still had the plan for, at least, that character; What will happen in the second one, what will happen in the third one. I think that’s important to say, because, at least, I hope, that we’re not done with Wolfenstein yet. We have a story to tell.”
Reports following Xbox-wide layoffs have indicated that development on a new Wolfenstein game has begun following studio restructuring that led to Gustafsson being made president of Arkane.
Other reports have also indicated that there are no plans to stop working on games in the Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake franchises. Taking to social media, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier noted that these games will be developed despite significant reorganization across ZeniMax.
“ZeniMax will be impacted significantly by the reorganization but will NOT be reduced to only Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, despite rumors over the last few weeks. The publisher will also still work on Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake,” he posted.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced the layoffs at the beginning of the month, confirming that around 1,600 jobs were being cut. She also said that approximately 1,600 more cuts are planned for before the end of the current fiscal year.
“I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building Xbox,” she said. “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.”
The layoffs were followed up with significant restructuring across Xbox, which included the appointment of Helen Chiang as the division’s new chief operating officer, who would be directly accountable for its profits and losses moving forward.
