Elder Scrolls Online devs detail “inhumane” Microsoft layoffs as Xbox expects the “carcass of workers” to “keep shipping award-winning games”

Original source: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/zenimax-staff-lambast-inhumane-xbox-layoffs-it-s-difficult-to-work-when-you-re-looking-at-a-graveyard-

Sorry to be nitpicky, but this should be linked instead of the referring article.

I suppose the next batch of marks have now learned why some of us don't trust Microsoft any further than our noodly coder-arms can throw them.

Every time...

"Don't mind me, I'm just here to acquire your company."

Also, that's an remarkably scathing interview for current named employees. No way they could do that without a union.

Also also, the game they inexplicably canned well into development sounds awesome: https://www.trueachievements.com/news/canceled-xbox-mmo-project-blackbird

Traversal was a core aspect of the game, with Exodus offering a vertical playground for players to explore, equipping players with a grappling hook, and, according to our source, you'd have been able to "climb and wall-run on any surface." The team wanted movement to feel natural and fun, similar to that found in games like Spider-Man and the driving in GTA.

Interestingly, our source tells us that ZeniMax had been toying with ideas for multiplayer side content away from the combat that would put the traversal system to good use, included races and obstacle courses. One mode the team had been toying with was like a blend of basketball and Quidditch. Our source says, "There was a ball to dunk into a ring, and you could pass or shoot," offering an experience that felt a little like Titanfall 2, although not as fast.

Maybe the setting was a little too anti-corpo for Microsoft?

In fact, our source tells us that up until July 2, 2025, when Microsoft announced the layoffs, the ZeniMax Online Studios employees working on Project Blackbird had no reason to think the game would be shelved. In fact, ZeniMax had taken a demo build to Microsoft's Redmond office in October 2024, and our source says the team had seen "good things coming out of that," so Microsoft leadership was impressed with the game. In a development release review meeting that took place in late June, ZeniMax leadership were not expecting for Microsoft to shelve the game. In fact, the team was preparing to ramp up development after several years in pre-production and was in the process of executing a $300,000 purchase order for hardware when the news came that the game wouldn't be going ahead. After several years in pre-production, ZeniMax was preparing to enter full production this October. Initially, the team was aiming for a two-year development window with a late 2027 release, but our source says the release window had moved to late 2028.

I no longer give any money to MS and I'm not changing my mind on that anytime soon.

I can't believe....

What's hard to believe here? This is how capitalism works.

I've played ESO for a long time now. It was a great game but it's likely that Microsoft just killed it and it will slowly die or at best they severely crippled it and it will regain its team and continue on. Either way the way MS handled everything was very poorly done and have lost the trust of their employees and consumers. Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. Personally, I am not willing to invest time or money into a game that will not be able to update or take care of their servers.

But at least the shareholders are happy!

This is very common in the corporate world. The only thing is it doesn't make sense for a trillion-dollar corporation reaping record profits to be doing this, or maybe it does. We all say competition in the market is good, but I don't think trillion-dollar corporations are incentivized to compete. They're chasing dollars while employees and consumers are pennies to them.

I'm amazed they'd layoff ESO workers, it's been a Zenimax cashcow for years.

I’m just assuming they think they’ll be able to exploit laborers by forcing them into a more gig style system. Capitalism is ass and this seems like an inevitable result especially in this industry.

award winning

ok ok, enough comedy...