Today, Xbox game developers will hold rallies to support of laid-off workers, call attention to the culture of layoffs that has permeated Microsoft, and demand better treatment for the workers who remain. Supported by the One Bethesda Game Studio (OneBGS) union and the Communication Workers of America, the Save Our Devs rally takes place in nine cities across the U.S. and Canada, as well as online on the United Video Game Workers – CWA Twitch Channel. Kotaku spoke to two members of OneBGS about their hopes for the rally, their hopes for the future, and what it’s like working at an Xbox studio now.
The central focus of this rally is to bring attention to the rampant layoffs that have happened and will continue to happen across Xbox, having put 1600 out of work already and with that many cuts again planned before the middle of next year. As the gaming industry continues to contract with layoffs happening everywhere for years now, it’s created an environment in which layoffs seem inevitable and unavoidable. But this wasn’t always the case; in fact, for Bethesda, that was almost never the case until Microsoft stepped in. Alex Nguyen, a lead character artist, has worked for Bethesda Games for several years before its acquisition by Microsoft. He said that when Zenimax was Bethesda’s sole parent company, layoffs did happen but were few and far between.
“That was one of the benefits,” he said. “That’s why a lot of people had such long tenure here, and they were like, ‘Yeah, this is the place I’m gonna retire at,’ or ‘this is the place where I’m gonna finish out,’ or ‘I love being here because I want to stay in the industry for a long time.’ That that was basically one of the benefits of being at Bethesda or a Zenimax studio in general.”
When faced with difficulties, Ngyuen said devs were always given a chance to fix the issues, citing the turbulent launches of Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online as examples of situations in which the devs were given the opportunity to turn things around. “But since since we’ve been under Microsoft…it feels like something has changed. We didn’t have layoffs before, and now we all of a sudden we have yearly layoffs.”
Layoffs are not only damaging to morale; they’re bad for the games. “Every coworker contributes to the success of our company,” said Nathan Hahn, a technical producer who’s been at Bethesda Game Studios for four years. “Without us, Bethesda games aren’t Bethesda games.” In addition to sheer breadth of the layoffs adding more work to those left behind, a lot of longtime veterans have also lost their jobs, taking their institutional knowledge with them.
“If only five people knew how this thing worked and you let all five of them go,” Ngyuen said, “that’s a morale killer because it’s like we already knew this, and now we have to learn it again.”
And layoffs don’t have to happen like this. There are ways Microsoft can work with their unions to negotiate terms for layoffs that are fair for both parties. “We actually submitted a proposal to the company on how to perform a reduction in force back in February of this year,” said Hahn. “The company sat on that for four months and did not give us a response before performing these layoffs.”
And while bargaining remains ongoing, the layoffs are happening now, with employees turning to public action not only to rally support but to dispel rumors of who’s being impacted by these layoffs. “We’ve seen statements that it’s like a whole bunch of middle management was let go,” Ngyuen said. “It’s not middle management. It’s people on the ground making sure that this game works and putting it in the hands of players.”
It’s not great being a Bethesda developer right now, but the union members we spoke to have hope. There’s an unfair labor practice complaint lodged with the National Labor Relations Board against Microsoft for all these firings, and this rally is bringing international attention to the plight of these developers. “Morale for our work at our jobs has never been lower,” Hahn said. “But morale for what we can do while working together collectively…that is on the upswing.”
