[Game Developer] ZeniMax staff lambast chaotic Xbox layoffs: 'It's difficult to work when you're looking at a graveyard'

Astray

Astray

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www.gamedeveloper.com

ZeniMax staff lambast chaotic Xbox layoffs: 'It's difficult to work when you're looking at a graveyard'

Employees at The Elder Scrolls maker ZeniMax explain how Microsoft's latest round of colossal layoffs unfolded and what they mean for the studio and its developers.
www.gamedeveloper.com www.gamedeveloper.com

Sounds like it's an absolute shambles behind the scenes at Microsoft Gaming. And it looks like Phil's dumbass layoff email really didn't go down well with the rank and file.

What's crazy to me here is there are multiple devs directly quoted in this piece speaking fully on the record with their full name out there (all are unionized). That is incredibly unusual and I don't remember ever seeing this in any of these expose-type pieces.
 
Astray said:
Sounds like it's an absolute shambles behind the scenes at Microsoft Gaming.
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Agreed.

Astray said:
And it looks like Phil's dumbass layoff email really didn't go down well with the rank and file.
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To be fair, when do those types of emails ever go over well with the rank and file? But, yes, Phil is a dumbass, no doubt about it.

Astray said:
What's crazy to me here is there are multiple devs directly quoted in this piece speaking fully on the record with their full name out there (all are unionized). That is incredibly unusual and I don't remember ever seeing this in any of these expose-type pieces.
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The only reason they're going on the record is because they're unionized. If they weren't, they'd all be clenching their butt cheeks. I'm guessing there's not a ton of unionization in the development world.
 
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Chiggs said:
The only reason they're going on the record is because they're unionized. If they weren't, they'd all be clenching their butt cheeks. I'm guessing there's not a ton of unionization in the development world.
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Yep it's because they're (relatively) protected through union membership.

This development makes me want more unionization in game dev tbh, I want devs to speak clearly on the record about all these fucking fat cat publishers and dev studios. Would make the reporting around games far more transparent and better imo.
 
I know a lot of people hate Nintendo for whatever reason, but seriously they know how to curate an environment that allows artists to shine, I guess RIP Iwata he understood why.
 
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Workers claim Microsoft just kicked decades of institutional knowledge to the curb
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Same thing is what killed Forza Motorsport. MS has no idea how gamedev works, especially inside established teams.

And it will only get worse.
 
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Layoffs suck but just put your head down and work your ass off and stop complaining

I couldn't count the amount of times during my career good people were let go, it made me work harder afraid I was next
 
Isn't this almost everywhere right now? My district can't pass a levy to save its life and we have cut so many teachers over the past 6 years that we have large class sizes (between 30 and 40) and empty classrooms. It sucks, but this is how it is right now.
 
Quasicat said:
Isn't this almost everywhere right now? My district can't pass a levy to save its life and we have cut so many teachers over the past 6 years that we have large class sizes (between 30 and 40) and empty classrooms. It sucks, but this is how it is right now.
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They should cut the big paying administrator's who don't add to education at all.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Layoffs suck but just put your head down and work your ass off and stop complaining

I couldn't count the amount of times during my career good people were let go, it made me work harder afraid I was next
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Some of the devs did though.

And it didn't make a diffrence.
 
jm89 said:
Some of the devs did though.

And it didn't make a diffrence.
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They can seldom make sense plus I sure don't take people's words for it taking it to social media

Truth is the vast majority of us here have no idea why certain groups were cut

Decades worth of knowledge kicked to the curb?

Has anyone played the vast majority of games coming out from MS gaming in the last 10+ years?
 
Meet the reaper
ELqidShX0AU7yYl.jpg
 
Chiggs said:
To be fair, when do those types of emails ever go over well with the rank and file? But, yes, Phil is a dumbass, no doubt about it.
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I mean you have a lot of ways to say you're letting people go, but personnally I wounldn't chose "we're more successful than ever, and that's thanks to all of your efforts, you're still being let go though"

I guess it has been suggested by Copilot
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Layoffs suck but just put your head down and work your ass off and stop complaining

I couldn't count the amount of times during my career good people were let go, it made me work harder afraid I was next
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Me too, which was weird because all the signs were pointing that the person was about to get fired, and I just received a promotion, and still was afraid of being the next one
 
Gonzito said:
Fuck Microsoft, bunch of greedy bastards without talent
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Developers with real talent should join indie developers or get together and start an own small indie studio, and then work their way up. The goal should be independance.
However, I'm gonna be totally honest. To me it seems the development side of the gaming industry has been massively inflated with too many so called "AAA" devs. I don't know for sure, but I believe many of these people working within 300-400 teams are just mere highly specialized task grunts, during a time when most of AAA gaming was just focused on graphics and presentation.

Honestly, since the AAA gaming development space and AAA gaming budgets have become so massively inflated - I don't give a shit if these studios and their pseudo-game developers get wrecked.

To me it feels just like an organic response of the consumers absolutely fed up with all this bullshit. Consequently, these studios and publishers like Microsoft are paying the price now.

Hopefully this trend will boost independant game development even more.
 
L*][*N*K said:
I know a lot of people hate Nintendo for whatever reason, but seriously they know how to curate an environment that allows artists to shine, I guess RIP Iwata he understood why.
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I think it has more to do with how shitty America is. You can fire people by email and have security kick them out in 10 minutes.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Quick. Somebody give Phil Spencer another Lifetime Achievement award!
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I still can't believe they gave him an environmental award for the Xbox Series packaging when it's the most elaborate and not environmental friendly packaging on Earth.
Meanwhile the PS5 packaging was paper bullshit that practically biodegraded by the time you got to your car.
 
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Punished Miku said:
People have been warning about how the current path is unsustainable since the Gamecube.
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I think, it's starting to be news from HD era, although, if You know 90s industry also quite prone as well. But well, any job seems not stable right now, economic and rise of cheap usage of AI also add salt to the injury
 
This is hilarious
It's currently unclear how many people have been laid off at ZeniMax specifically, but one anonymous source told us it was a "fuck ton" and another indicated hundreds have been impacted.
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It does suck when people who are talented and dedicated to their jobs are fired, but can you imagine if the everyday person got this exposure for being sacked? These articles are getting a bit much and the quotes are giving off a more and more "I'm a dramatic teenager" vibe.

I don't think I've ever had a job that involved someone being fired that had this much emotion drag on for so long and by the fucking people still employed in the same place.

I'm genuinely not trying to sound heartless, but this is getting embarrassing from all sides. Maybe them making games has made them lose touch of the real world and the shite that goes with it.
 
MS are utterly pathetic and a cancer to this industry. So many talented people losing their jobs due to the incompetence of Phil and Co. running the brand into the ground. So many potential games and IP's cancelled or turned to shite. How in the bloody hell does Phil and Booty still hold the positions they are in?
 
Imagine all those cuckold Xbox fantards that were frothing at the mouth at the idea of MS buying up all the best 3rd party devs in the industry.

Imagine being so fucking obtuse that you weren't able to see that the complete ineptitude of MGS to ship first party games prior to all these acquisitions, wasn't just going to magically disappear once all the acquisitions were complete.

At one point in the past, when they bought Zenimax, I thought Spencer might have been smart enough to shitcan all the MGS execs and let the Zenimax folks run both Zenimax and all the pre-existing Xbox studios.... but nah!! Fucktard Spencer instead just subordinates all the competent Zenimax folks to him and his team of fucking clueless wankers.
 
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