Elder Scrolls Online had passionate bosses with whom one could navigate the dungeons, they are all gone now

The list of employees affected by the layoffs at ZeniMax keeps getting longer and longer. Xbox is essentially replacing the entire leadership. What MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz concludes from this will not please all fans of Elder Scrolls Online.

A few days ago, I reported on an official listing from the state of Maryland, which stated that 213 employees from ZeniMax are to be affected by the current layoffs at Xbox. At that time, it was still unclear whether all those affected had already reported to the authority and who exactly it affected.

An unofficial list from fans from the official ESO forum already indicated that many veterans are affected, who have significantly influenced the development of the MMORPG over the past 12 years.

Now we have more clarity.

Xbox is replacing almost the entire leadership of Elder Scrolls Online

You can find the complete list of jobs affected by the layoffs, for example, on scribd.com. The total of 379 laid-off employees also includes 166 from ZeniMax Media. They had nothing to do with the development of Elder Scrolls Online.

What stands out is that the Xbox executives have dismissed almost the entire leadership of ZeniMax Online Studios. After the departure of former studio head Matt Firor in July 2025, ESO veteran Joe Burba was supposed to lead ZeniMax Online Studios into a successful future – along with executive producer Susan Kath and studio game director Rich Lambert. All three are now gone.

When Rich Lambert was still game director of Elder Scrolls Online, MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz regularly explored the new dungeons with him and lead dungeon director Mike Finnigan.

However, many other leads are also affected, such as those for the areas of art, audio, and business development. ESO is also losing many faces who have represented the MMORPG in streams and at events over the years. Community manager Gina Bruno, lead dungeon director Mike Finnigan, senior writer designer Jeff Grubb, and narrative director Bill Slavicsek.

Moreover, it’s not a good sign: ZeniMax will have to do without more than 60 senior testers from quality assurance (QA) due to the wave of layoffs in the future.

All of this is not done if one sees Elder Scrolls Online as a growth project and wants to release extensive content updates in the future.

Who takes over the leadership now? Josh Henderson is said to take over the management of ZeniMax Online Studios. As head of business operations, he has previously focused mainly on finances. It is therefore evident that Xbox’s goal with ZeniMax now involves strict budget control.

Alongside him is Nick Giacomini, who took over the role of game director after Rich Lambert’s promotion last year. He will likely take care of everything related to ESO’s content.

Last year, our MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski still spoke with Rich Lambert and Nick Giacomini about the future of ESO.

I see black for one of the best MMORPGs on the market

While some of the remaining ZeniMax employees still drew hopeful comparisons during the ESO Tavern 2026 that they are now as large as during the era of Wrothgar and Summerset – and therefore ESO should not be written off. However, I am increasingly losing faith.

I have had repeated contact over the years with people like Rich Lambert, Matt Firor, and Mike Finnigan. Not only during interviews and events; we have also explored the dungeons of Tamriel together several times. Therefore, I believe I know quite well how passionate they were about ESO, how significant their influence was in the development, and that they played ESO also privately extensively.

Such people cannot be replaced or dismissed without any substitutes without negative effects on the development of a game.

Additional factors come into play. Laying off about 60 to 71 percent of 300 to 350 employees would be a hard blow for any studio. Even more so, considering that they were still in the process of sweeping up the debris from the wave of layoffs last year.

Moreover, a sword of Damocles now hangs over all the remaining employees, as it is rumored that another 1,600 positions will be cut in the coming months… who can still deliver creative work in such a situation?

Additionally, a new leadership focused on budget and finances, and the drastic reduction in the QA area, all smell like a better maintenance mode, where one wants to rotate 08/15 seasons and milk the game until no money drips out anymore.

I hope I’m wrong. We will probably only realize this truly next year. Until the end of September, the content roadmap is set by the current season. However, the planned Skyrim season for the 4th quarter and early 2027 may already fall through or appear in a significantly reduced form. You can find more about this here: One of the last large MMO studios from the West is staggering towards the abyss, and it breaks my heart.