There seems to have been significant closures in ZeniMax Online Studios, at least based on data on the company’s job listings website.
Before we get to the rumor, let’s review some basic details between Bethesda and ZeniMax. ZeniMax Media is the parent company that also owns the likes of Arkane Studios, id Software, and MachineGames. Under ZeniMax Media is Bethesda Softworks, which is a publisher, and under them is Bethesda Game Studios, the actual developer studios that make Bethesda video games.
ZeniMax Online Studios is also owned by ZeniMax Media, but they don’t fall under Bethesda Softworks’ umbrella, at least as of this writing. Their specialty is in making MMOS, and in this capacity, they developed The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76.
Timur222 shared this information on Twitter:
Main ZeniMax Online office and ZeniMax Online Hungary are all that’s left as far as ZeniMax Online Studios, as per ZeniMax’s jobs website
ZeniMax Online Studios acquired a Hungarian video game company called Nemesys in 2022, and they are the studio now known as ZeniMax Online Studios in Hungary. They also have locations in Austin, San Diego, Seattle, and Wisconsin, and it seems that it’s these locations that have either had layoffs, studio closures, or both.
Now, to be clear, having no job openings does not necessarily mean that these studios have been closed, or that they are part of the layoffs. There are other potential explanations for these changes on ZeniMax’s website, such as that ZeniMax has decided to freeze or stop hiring developers in those locations. It’s also possible that employees in these locations where moved to other divisions within ZeniMax Media, or even within Microsoft.
That may not account for the situation with all studios, but what is possible here is that there is a mix of studios that have been closed, and studios that remain open, but with new seeming limitations. Timur222 also found that id Software’s location in Germany may have also closed.
We wish the employees at ZeniMax Media the best. While we’re still finding evidence if the Microsoft layoffs affected their developers, we hope that any developers who will be leaving will find placement back in the video game industry. But on another level, it’s problematic for Microsoft to keep the public guessing on which people have been laid off and under what circumstances.
While we believe that Microsoft is figuratively hiding their power level, they surely recognize that their reputation is taking a drubbing at the moment. Whatever bad news they have to share about this, we think it’s worse for them to let the public assume the worst.
