In response to this week's wave of mass Xbox layoffs from Microsoft that have cut 3,200 roles and four studios from the company, union workers at Bethesda Game Studios — the developer behind Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, among other titles — are organizing a protest to fight back.
Several public listings for the rally — titled "Save Our Devs" — have been spotted for Bethesda's various different locations, including its Rockville headquarters and offices in Austin, Dallas, and Montreal. These calls to action confirm that unionized OneBGS staffers are coordinating to march on July 15 next week.
"Microsoft and ZeniMax leadership have made the devastating decision to slash over 440 positions across BGS, ZOS, id, ZWU (QA) and ZeniMax corporate (including CTO and CSUR)," wrote the union. "Because we organized and certified our Unions, we have hard-won legal rights and protections that non-unionized studios simply do not have."
"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," it continued. "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."
In an email sent to union workers seen by Game Developer, OneBGS has reportedly stated that 35 Bethesda Game Studios devs have been let go in the US, with 12 also laid off in Montreal. This roughly lines up with a previous report that about 50 employees have been laid off from the studio.
Reportedly, "this has had a crushing effect on morale" at Bethesda, with devs fearing that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer delays and crunch as a result of the redundancies. There are also concerns that support for Fallout 76 may end.
Elsewhere under the ZeniMax and Bethesda banner, the cuts go even deeper. Over 200 developers were laid off from The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online Studios, and well over half of DOOM maker id Software has been axed as well — though it's been reported that the situation there isn't as dire as some say. A small comfort.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated the layoffs are part of a "reset" for the Xbox business after it "overextended" with its ambitions; OneBGS claims that Microsoft referred to them as an "entrepreneurial change in the scope of business," which is a notion it's fighting against as it negotiates to have affected developers brought into open roles across Xbox Game Studios.
"While we push that legal fight forward, Microsoft is still legally required right now to sit down with us for 'Effects Bargaining.' This means we have the right to negotiate exactly how these layoffs impact our people, and we are heading to the table to fight for every single affected worker," it explained.
"We are going to be demanding preferential transfers to force Microsoft to place affected BGS workers into open roles across Xbox and Microsoft first, stronger severance and extended healthcare to ensure no one is financially abandoned, as well as recall rights to ensure our laid-off members are the first ones hired back when BGS expands."
"Stay strong, look out for one another, and we look forward to seeing us all marching together on the 15th," concluded the union. Whether next week's protest has a meaningful impact or not remains to be seen, but ultimately, I hope it helps laid off ZeniMax and Bethesda devs find new opportunities and get the best severance and healthcare packages possible.
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