Staff at Bethesda Game Studios are concerned that The Elder Scrolls 6 could face delays following studio layoffs that included a 27-year veteran. It has been eight years since the game was originally announced, and a reliable insider recently claimed the sequel would not be out until 2028 at the earliest.
Layoffs Impact Key Staff
Following this week's Xbox layoffs affecting 1,600 people, over 50 employees were let go from Bethesda Game Studios, according to IGN. Among them was senior character artist Christiane Meister, who had worked on every Elder Scrolls game since 2002's Morrowind. 'I have recently been laid off from Bethesda Game Studios and find myself in the novel position of looking for a job,' Meister wrote on LinkedIn. 'I thought I would stay there forever because I loved making those games. Life had other plans as it so often does.'
Employee Concerns and Morale
Speaking anonymously, Bethesda staff expressed fears about delays, replacement by cheaper contracted labor, and increased crunch time. 'There is a fear that we are going to be replaced by cheaper, contracted labour, or we will hire folks to replace them that will need to be onboarded (our tools are proprietary, other devs aren’t going to know how they work) resulting in more delays, and we’ll need to crunch to make up the time,' one employee told IGN. Another said: 'We’ve all been very excited and hyped for The Elder Scrolls 6 and this has had a crushing effect on morale. We were already running a tight ship and are worried about this delaying the game.'
Outsourcing Plans and Further Cuts
One staff member claimed the company intends to outsource work to other studios, while another said colleagues from ZeniMax Online Studios, the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online, would fill gaps. However, a public layoff notice revealed that studio lost 213 employees recently, casting doubt on that plan. Xbox has confirmed it will cut around 3,200 people by the end of the financial year, suggesting further layoffs may be coming. The Bethesda Game Studios Union account on Bluesky shared photos of memorials to fired team members, described as a 'Celebration Of Service.'
Bleak Outlook for The Elder Scrolls 6
The layoffs come after the failure of Starfield, putting Bethesda Game Studios on the backfoot. The conditions do not sound like a thriving environment for the comeback the developer needs. With no final release date yet chosen, The Elder Scrolls 6 remains a distant prospect, and these cuts may push it even further away.
