Bethesda Union calls for fans to voice their concerns regarding the recent Xbox job cuts at Bethesda, and they aren’t sugar-coating their opinions

Developer July 9, 2026No Comments

Recently, Bethesda’s Union expressed frustration that Zenimax and Bethesda, the studio currently in charge of award-winning Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and DOOM franchises, among others, has suffered job cuts as part of Xbox’s company-wide ‘Reset’, with reports from Bloomberg suggesting it was one of the studios hit the hardest with layoffs.

A day after voicing their displeasure, Bethesda’s Union took to Bluesky to call upon gamers and ask them to voice their concerns regarding the biggest wave of layoffs in Xbox’s history and the state of Bethesda’s future games to Microsoft directly through the Xbox Player Voice feedback platform.

It stated, “Yesterday’s layoffs at Bethesda Game Studios were not a cut of ’14 layers of management. We lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers, and testers. Many of whom worked at BGS for decades. If Bethesda fans are worried this will harm the quality of our future games, like The Elder Scrolls VI, let Microsoft know!”

One way you can show Microsoft your concern is here through the XBOX Player Voice feedback platform: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide…

— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T10:57:34.527Z

Upon hearing this, players flocked to the platform in droves and unleashed all their pent-up frustrations and criticisms at Microsoft.

Comments ranged from scathing doomsaying, like “If Microsoft does not reverse course they will be destroyed.” by Percy Hartley to constructive feedback, like the most upvoted comment (at over 2,500 votes) by Witt Yao, stating, “The layoff of 3,200 workers at XBOX (across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Obsidian, id Software, and XBOX Game Studios) is unacceptable. This continues a pattern that has led to 10,000+ layoffs at XBOX in as little as two years.”

Witt Yao continues, “Multiple studios have been closed or had their futures jeopardized (Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios) and numerous games have been cancelled. The developers and players agree that This Can Not Continue. A true reset that meets the needs of the XBOX community looks like the following:”

He then advises on how Microsoft could potentially improve the Xbox brand with the following suggestions:

Transparency for Players – Showcasing games from studios they intend to sell or close weeks later feels bad for players.
Keep Teams Together – No layoffs for the next 2 years and end studio closures. Studio closures hurt the fans of that studio.
XBOX is already profitable without reaching a billion people every day – Stop constraining XBOX by the unrealistic profit expectations of the Microsoft Accountability Margin.
Trust the Developers – Negotiate in good faith with unions and developers, so they can better represent the needs of both developers and gamers.
Layoffs are a Failure of Leadership – No executive bonuses when there is a layoff.
Invest in the Future of Gaming – Invest in the future generation of video game developers instead of unpopular technologies like AI that players don’t want. Game development expertise is the biggest asset of a video game company.

Stay tuned for more info, as we can keep an eye out for developments and reactions regarding the biggest shake-up within the Xbox brand’s history.

Have you voiced your opinions to Microsoft through the Xbox Player Voice Feedback? Do you have destructive or constructive criticisms regarding the Xbox brand’s “reset” that has seen over 3,200 jobs terminated across many of Xbox’s game studios?