'Buckle Up': Insider Reports Bethesda Layoffs, Xbox Protects Elder Scrolls 6

According to the latest reports, Xbox is going through a huge internal layoff process that’s targeting almost all of its studios, and Bethesda isn’t immune.

Bethesda falls under the umbrella of its parent company, ZeniMax Media, and under Bethesda are other studios like Arkane, MachineGames and id Software.

Co-founder of Apogee/3D Realms, George Broussard, recently shared reports that layoffs have now begun at ZeniMax Media.

The creator of the beloved Duke Nukem series said as much in a post on XCancel, which read: “Getting word that layoffs at Zenimax have begun. Heard rumblings recently that the cuts may be much deeper than you expect. Buckle up!”

It doesn’t sound like great news, especially since George Broussard has been a reputable source for layoff news in the past. Nevertheless, take the report with a pinch of salt until it’s been corroborated/confirmed.

Right now, it’s unclear which ZeniMax-owned studios will be affected, but many fear id Software will be on the chopping block next. The studio is best-known for its Doom games, like Doom: The Dark Ages, which will receive a new DLC expansion later this year. Despite being a solid first-person shooter, sales weren’t amazing, prompting speculation that some staff will be cut as a result.

Xbox Game Studios

Where This Leaves The Elder Scrolls 6

If ZeniMax, and by extension Bethesda, is the next company on Xbox’s hit list, there’ll obviously be some concerns that the team working on The Elder Scrolls VI is at risk.

From the sound of things, though, that’s not the case. Xbox wants to speed up development on games like The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5, so cutting staff from those projects wouldn’t do the company any favours.

What we could see happen though, is Bethesda-owned studios losing employees and having remaining employees reallocated to other projects.

We still don’t know where The Elder Scrolls VI is up to in terms of development, as over five years later, all we’ve seen of the blasted thing is that logo and mountain range. It doesn’t even have an official title yet, like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Whatever’s slowing down development could be seriously ticking off Xbox execs, especially now that the company is keen to compete with exclusives again. Chances are, The Elder Scrolls VI will remain a multiplatform title, but Fallout 5 could be exclusive to Project Helix for all we know.

Basically, these supposed layoffs at ZeniMax are terrible but the likelihood that they’ll impact The Elder Scrolls VI’s development is slim. The title is just too important for Xbox to risk at the moment.

What was previously believed to be Xbox’s big comeback is slowly twisting into a PR nightmare, as backlash mounts against the company’s latest business decisions.

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