Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced 3,200 job cuts across Xbox Game Studios in early July 2024, with about 1,600 layoffs effective immediately and the rest planned before the financial year ends [1, 2]. Among the cuts, approximately 440 union positions were eliminated across Bethesda and ZeniMax studios, including Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax Online Studios, id Software, and ZeniMax corporate [1, 2, 3].
The layoffs detailed in WARN Act notices include 96 jobs cut at id Software, 40 remote workers linked to the Dallas studio, 22 layoffs at Bethesda Austin, 213 at ZeniMax Online in Maryland, and 166 at ZeniMax Media [2]. Bethesda union members say ZeniMax Online Studios lost over 60% of its staff in the past year [3].
Bethesda Game Studios union workers under the OneBGS union staged a "Save Our Devs" protest march on July 15 at four locations: Rockville, Maryland; Austin and Dallas, Texas; and Montreal, Canada [1, 2, 3]. The union said Microsoft and Bethesda leadership tried to present 35 of the layoffs as a shift from a studio-based to a franchise-based business model to sidestep bargaining obligations [1]. OneBGS emphasized workers’ legal right to negotiate layoff impacts and demanded preferential transfers to other Microsoft roles for affected staff [1].
The union committee said, "The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won’t let that happen. Our next steps are to mobilize. We need every single member visible and unified. To that end, we are announcing our Save Our Devs March across all studios on Wednesday July 15th" [3]. They added, "We need to show management right now that we mean business, so they will properly take care of our fellow co-workers today and think twice before ever attempting something like this again" [2].
Union members also placed memorials for laid-off colleagues, but were ordered by HR to remove them [2, 3]. Industry observers note Xbox layoffs have become an "annual routine," hitting flagship studios like Bethesda hard [3]. Across Microsoft, about 4,800 layoffs have occurred recently, with an additional 1,600 Xbox cuts expected within the next 12 months [2].
