Laid off Elder Scrolls Online dev says players won’t get new content at ‘anything approaching’ the previous rate
ZeniMax said last week that its Seasons roadmap was “shifting” following layoffs
A developer laid off from The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online Studios says the game will now receive updates much slower than before.
Last week it was confirmed that Microsoft had laid off 379 employees at ZeniMax – comprising of 213 employees at ZeniMax Online and a further 166 employees at ZeniMax Media.
Senior encounter designer Morgan Goin was one of the employees laid off, and she’s now told the BBC that she and her colleagues were “blindsided” by the news they were losing their jobs.
Goin told the publication that the cuts have led to huge reductions in the number of staff in specific departments, with some disciplines now reduced to a quarter the size of what they were before.
As a result of this, she warns that players of The Elder Scrolls Online can expect content updates to come at a significantly slower pace going forward.
“We’re not going to be able to put out the amount of content at the speed that we were,” she told the BBC, “or anything approaching that.”
The ESO roadmap is shifting
The layoffs at ZeniMax come at a particularly awkward time for the studio, as it had only recently completely revamped The Elder Scrolls Online’s live service structure.
In December 2024 the studio announced that it was moving away from its traditional annual chapters and would instead be switching to a seasonal model in 2025, a move designed to give players smaller, more frequent content launches rather than large annual ones.
Season 1, titled Return of the Thieves Guild, started on July 8 – the day before the layoffs at ZeniMax were reported – and is set to run until October 21.
In a post on the game’s Reddit page last week, however, the Elder Scrolls Online team told players that its season roadmap would have to be rethought as a result of the layoffs.
“As we get ready to launch Season One this week, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to The Elder Scrolls Online,” the statement read. “Our team’s immediate focus is on launching Season One, which we’re all excited for you to jump in.
“Looking beyond Season One, the roadmaps we previously shared will be shifting. We want to take the time to evaluate the work in front of us and then lock down an updated schedule. While we’d love to share a concrete details today, stepping back to get our plans straight will let us come back to you with a clear timeline.
“This game is nothing without you, our community. Thank you for sticking with us, and for everything you bring to Tamriel.”
