Earlier this week, Xbox began yet another large wave of layoffs across its various divisions and studios, which included many layoffs at Bethesda studios. But when folks at the main Bethesda Games Studio in Maryland tried to pay tribute to their laid-off colleagues via a small memorial, HR allegedly told them to remove it, according to posts from the official BGS Union.
On Monday, Xbox and Microsoft began cutting thousands of jobs across all of its subsidiaries and studios, including id Software, Obsidian, and Activision. It also spun off or sold studios like Double Fine and Ninja Theory. It was a corporate bloodbath, which has become common at Xbox, and one that will continue as more layoffs are expected to be announced throughout the next 12 months. Bethesda Game Studios and its various satellite teams weren’t spared from the carnage, with many staff members laid off as part of the larger round of cuts.
So on Tuesday, as reported by the Bethesda Game Studios Union, the BGS team in Austin set up a small “Celebration of Service” memorial featuring photos of staff members who had been let go as a way to pay tribute to those who lost their jobs, and show solidarity during this challenging time.
Employees at the main Bethesda Games Studio in Rockville, Maryland, were inspired to do the same. On Wednesday morning, the BGS Union account posted a photo showing Rockville’s memorial to laid-off devs. But minutes later, the union claims HR demanded the memorial be removed.
“Unfortunately, HR made our office manager take this down almost immediately,” posted the union account. “They said because it’s in a common area, it had to be removed. We’ve used common areas for many things as a team, including fan works, but HR seems to believe that a Celebration of Service is inappropriate.”
Kotaku has contacted the BGS Union as well as Xbox about the removed memorial and the status of the Austin tribute.
In 2022, Xbox promised not to fight back against unionization efforts that were happening at Activision Blizzard as part of its attempt to convince lawmakers and regulators to let Microsoft buy up the Warcraft and Call of Duty company. And it stuck to that pledge, letting studios form and create unions. However, over the years, the members of these unions have complained that Xbox is slow-walking negotiations and stalling contract talks with teams who are fighting for layoff protections and more.