Layoffs at Microsoft hit 343 industries and Bethesda Games Studios

Good to know. And I see Bethesda/BGS being mentioned, while some say it’s more like Zenimax. I assume it’s the latter, I notice how a lot of people still say Bethesda even when they mean only BGS. I can’t imagine only BGS got hit, probably ZOS too, etc.

It’s amazing how few people understand that these layoffs were inevitable. Microsoft literally added close to 100,000 employees since pre pandemic to cover increased demand. As demand drops you will end up needing reductions.

And each division will be asked to make cuts. The stories about specifically who is affected aren’t massively helpful as if you’ve identified duplicate roles or redundancies in roles they will be going. It doesn’t matter if they are in your most or least successful studios. You have to make savings and cut areas that aren’t needed.

It really sucks for those people impacted but it’s an absolute nothing burger as a gaming story. Only the usual fanboys are trying to make it into something.

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Acquire Bethesda… and then proceed to layoff employees in a studio which desperately needs to be expanded.

And we’re meant to believe they can reform Activision/Blizzard… baffling.

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Reminder: One of Ariadne studio was close to shut down before acquisition. Nothing is completely safe; you can only minimize the damage.

You just said a lot of words, but none of them are related to each other or make any sense on their own.

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People commenting straight out of their feelings.

It is entirely possible to be wholly empathetic to anyone affected by the layoffs while simultaneously understanding that this is corporate reality. Priorities changed, projects are shelved, redundancies are trimmed, etc. These are all capable and talented human beings that will land on their feet.

It isn’t necessary to like it, but it is necessary to understand that this is the corporate world and the only true mission a corporation has is to deliver shareholder value. That is capitalism in a nutshell.

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This is the sad reality, hoping all the employees affected land on their feet again, and no Xbox is not dead, nor does it change the commitment to gaming.

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I don’t understand the points you are trying to make. They acquired Bethesda a year ago, they’re seemingly cutting campaign creators at 343. How do those two have anything to do with each other?

Mega corporations don’t work that way. Bethesda is a different arm of the division. 343 as a company underperformed and when corporate set cuts they were targeted.

Reforming ABK isn’t saying you’ll never lay anyone off, it’s about fixing their corporate culture.

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Ironically I think the only way to fix ABK is by laying quite a few people off lol.

Starting with that fuckhead kottick

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If I have to make a theory, this seems like the “best timing” to restructure the studio within, instead of doing it on a separate day that will make them look bad easily. Again, theory.

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I don’t think you understand what youre talking about here, and it shows. Just the type of person Jason Scherier was aiming for.

It’s definitely too bad about the campaign employees though. Wasn’t the Halo Infinite campaign received very, very well by both critics and players overall? No idea about the sales, but I’d imagine tons of people played through it?

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This confuses me why they are laying off devs when this guy expects them to invest more in AI & Gaming after ABK

We don’t know that. They could have been larger cuts if Zenimax/Bethesda remained as they were.

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Also keep in mind, this isnt just Microsoft. Amazon cut 18,000 jobs, Meta has cut 11,000 recently, Salesforce cut around 7-8k.

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Yes, but remember, they had to delay a year for it, as well as bring Joseph Staten to lead the way. As I said in my theory, if the studio wants to restructure within, now it’s a good time.

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Yes, it was received very well overall by both critics and fans.

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They were sold for a reason, if anything I think it’s safe to assume they would have faced more issues and cuts if they were still independent.

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