There is grim news for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online. The development team is losing numerous employees.
The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is one of the few large MMORPGs that is often compared in the same breath with genre giants like World of Warcraft. It launched in 2014 and has performed solidly since then, with a loyal community. However, the announced layoffs at Microsoft hit Zenimax Online Studios, the developers of ESO, particularly hard.
Half of the workforce is said to have been laid off. The future of the MMORPG hangs in the balance. This is the consequence of the previously announced 3,200 layoffs that Microsoft is planning and now executing.
Where do the claims come from? The statements originate from the magazine Kotaku. They claim in their article to have spoken with several current and now laid-off employees of Zenimax Online Studios.
What do the employees say? According to Kotaku, several employees stated that the job cuts at Zenimax Online Studios are “brutal.” According to multiple statements, it is likely that “almost half the team” would be affected. This would be a massive number of employees, and there is no question that with such a reduction, work cannot be done at the same pace as before.
That the studio is heavily affected can also be seen elsewhere. Nearly two dozen employees have already indicated on the career platform LinkedIn that they are looking for a job again. There are also increasing mentions of this on other social media.
What’s next for ESO? Many fans are understandably worried that ESO may be coming to an end. After all, expansions and patches have been released regularly at a frequency that surely cannot be maintained anymore. This is confirmed by Community Manager Jessica Folsom in the ESO forum, stating that the current roadmap needs to be “revised”:
As we prepare for the launch of Season 1 this week, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to The Elder Scrolls Online. (…)
Looking at the time after Season 1, the roadmaps we previously shared will change. We want to take the time to assess the work ahead of us carefully and then publish an updated schedule. We would love to share concrete details today, but taking a step back and focusing our plans will ensure that we have a clear timeline in the end. (…)
It is at least clear: The rest of the team will continue to work on ESO and intends to provide the game with new content. However, it should also be obvious that the current cadence of content, the pace, or the variety of features cannot be maintained to the same extent as before.
Why it is so hard to make a good MMORPG today has been explained to us by 6 legendary developers.
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!