“As much as half” of the team working on The Elder Scrolls Online has been laid off, according to a report from Kotaku, leading many to wonder how the game will continue.
Earlier today, Microsoft began carrying out its “reset” of the Xbox brand by laying off thousands of employees. Although no studios are shutting down, many are being offloaded from Xbox and being sold to other companies or given the chance to go independent. Bethesda is also expected to focus on a small handful of franchises, such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, going forward.
Unfortunately, one of the studios hit the hardest by the rest appears to be ZeniMax Online Studios, though the total number of those impacted is unknown. This isn’t the first time this has happened, as Xbox hit ZOS hard last year and canceled a sci-fi MMO at the studio.
Kotaku reported that sources from ZeniMax have expressed uncertainty on how The Elder Scrolls Online could continue on after such a massive blow. The team seems to be reckoning with this publicly, as community manager Jessica Folsom took to the ESO forums to tell players that the game’s roadmap is “shifting” and they will need time to re-evaluate it before sharing a new plan.
“Looking beyond Season One, the roadmaps we previously shared will be shifting,” said Folsom. “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.”
With such a massive reduction to ESO’s development team, many players are fearing the worst for the game’s future. It seems like the game will remain playable, but how much support will it get? That’s the big question today. The Elder Scrolls Online recently moved away from “Chapters” and big expansions to embrace seasonal content, which already suggested the game may be scaling down.
Now, it seems hard for some players to even imagine a future for ESO.
“Difficult to read this as anything other than an intention to wind down the game,” said one fan. Another fan agreed, noting that this move will likely push fans away from the game and result in its definite demise: “MMORPGs can’t continue if the players think the game will not grow in the future. No one wants to invest the time MMORPGs demand to a game that may not exist in 5 years. It will be like a death spiral.”
“I’m going to be honest, it’s a near guarantee that ESO go into ‘Maintenance Mode’ within the next year or at least a low power mode where hardly any new content is released,” predicted a player. “They already reduced the amount of dungeons, expansion content and zones being released a little while ago, so expect even less now. Destiny 2 getting shit canned last month was needed because it got so bad so I didn’t mind that much, but ESO still has so much to give.”
Some fans looked to other titles to try and brace for what’s next. “This is truly worrying news,” said a fan. “Warhammer Online faced a similar fate. It start with half the team and the face of the team being laid off.”
Some even began comparing the situation to what happened to Destiny. Earlier this summer, Bungie wound down support on Destiny 2 before laying off hundreds of developers. The game remains functional, but will no longer receive support. One fan even said they jumped from Destiny to Elder Scrolls Online.
“Noooo I just came to this game from Destiny. F–k me, man.”
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
