According to a developer from ZeniMax, The Elder Scrolls Online has reportedly cross-financed other failed projects for years. This not only caused problems but is extremely bitter in light of the current events.
Which developer is being referred to? Andrew Young is a Senior Game Designer and Author who has worked at ZeniMax Online Studios since 2012. We already quoted the industry veteran on July 7, 2026, when we reported on the extensive layoffs at the studio behind The Elder Scrolls Online.
Recently, Young spoke not only about how bad the layoffs are for the team, but also explained how important the success of The Elder Scrolls Online has been for ZeniMax and Bethesda. On X, he writes:
People will never know how much blood, sweat, and tears went into the development of ESO or that we essentially funded other failing projects, while never receiving enough resources to truly maintain our release rhythm.
In other words: The Elder Scrolls MMORPG has been so successful over many years that various other projects at ZeniMax and Bethesda have allegedly been cross-financed by it. Games like Project Blackbird, which never saw the light of day, but likely consumed many millions of US dollars.
Thanks to a statement from former studio head Matt Firor, we know that Elder Scrolls Online is reported to have generated around 2 billion US dollars in its first decade.
When looking at the long development cycles, especially at Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield, Fallout, Elder Scrolls), it wouldn’t surprise anyone if a few dollars from ESO revenues ended up there as well.
Not unusual, but bitter
Is this unusual? Within a studio, it is completely normal that the current game, at best, finances the development of the next project. Large game departments like Microsoft’s use their extremely successful “cash cows” across the corporation as well to enable projects from other studios.
Specifically, we know about Minecraft and Candy Crush, which generate enormous revenue sums year after year and thus form the foundation for single-player experiences that have been specifically planned with the Xbox Game Pass in mind.
The problem is rather how many projects have been canceled after years of development across the entire gaming industry in the past decade, how many costly acquisitions ultimately led only to further studio closures, and how many extremely expensive flops have gone live, only to be taken down shortly thereafter.
Of course, such failures have always existed. Nowadays, each Concord burns 250 million US dollars. The big decision-makers at the top waste unbelievable amounts, and in the end, it is the teams that have to pay the price.
Therefore, Andrew Young’s bitter tone is quite understandable: Despite immense success over the years, one seems to have been repeatedly held back and now stands before a pile of rubble, from which the remaining should make the best of it. For the second time in just a year, mind you: The layoffs at Microsoft are said to have noticeably weakened the studio behind Elder Scrolls Online in 2025.
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