Save Our Devs: Bethesda Workers Rally Against Xbox Layoffs

I’m a PlayStation guy, always have been, but what’s happening at Xbox right now isn’t a console war thing. It’s an everybody thing. This week the people who make Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and DOOM stopped waiting for Microsoft to care and took it to the sidewalk.

The Save Our Devs Rallies

On July 15, members of OneBGS, the CWA-affiliated union representing Bethesda Game Studios workers, walked out to the curb at all four studio locations: Rockville, Maryland; Austin and Dallas, Texas; and Montreal. They called the campaign “Save Our Devs,” and it was a direct response to Microsoft’s July 6 announcement of another massive round of Xbox layoffs. Kotaku’s coverage framed it perfectly: game companies can no longer do layoffs quietly. Those days are over.

And it’s not just an Xbox story. Ubisoft developers in Barcelona have been holding their own demonstrations after layoffs were announced right after they shipped a game. Shipping a hit and then getting a pink slip has somehow become the industry’s standard reward.

The Numbers Behind the Cuts

The July 6 announcement covered roughly 3,200 Xbox job eliminations, with about 1,600 happening now and reporting suggesting another wave to come over the next year. Inside the ZeniMax family, 440 union-represented positions were cut across Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax Online Studios, id Software, QA, and corporate, according to PC Gamer’s report on the union’s statement.

The WARN Act filings put faces on it: 213 people at ZeniMax Online in Maryland, the studio keeping The Elder Scrolls Online alive. 96 at id Software, the DOOM studio. Another 166 at ZeniMax Media, 22 at BGS Austin, 40 remote workers tied to Dallas. These aren’t middle managers with vague titles. These are the people who build the worlds we sink hundreds of hours into.

I covered the first wave when it landed the same week as a stacked Game Pass drop, and the whiplash was gross then too. You can read that one here: Xbox layoffs hit the same week as its best Game Pass drop yet.

Why This Is Bigger Than Xbox

Microsoft is one of the richest companies in the history of money. This isn’t a company fighting for survival. This is a company that spent $69 billion buying Activision Blizzard, then spent the years since cutting the people who actually make the games, in wave after wave, while Game Pass prices went up and physical discs got phased out.

Here’s my problem with the whole thing. Every one of these cuts is explained with the same corporate word salad about “aligning resources” and “positioning for the future.” But the future of gaming is not fewer developers. It never has been. Every generation’s best games, from Ocarina of Time to Elden Ring, came from teams that were given time and stability. You cannot lay off your way to the next Skyrim.

The union movement in gaming exists precisely because of this cycle. When I was growing up, game credits rolled and you never thought about whether those people still had jobs the day the game shipped. Now it’s a coin flip. The workers organizing at ZeniMax and Bethesda aren’t being dramatic. They’re being realistic.

What Happens Next

The union is demanding Microsoft come back to the table, and the rallies were designed to make the cuts expensive in the one currency Microsoft actually tracks: public goodwill. Whether it works is an open question. But the visibility matters. Ten years ago a layoff wave like this would have been a single sad tweet thread. This week it was national news with picket signs.

As players, we don’t have a seat at that table, but we do have eyes and wallets. Pay attention to which companies treat developers like assets and which treat them like people. I’ll keep gaming on my PS5 either way, controller in hand, and yes, I still keep a spare Xbox Wireless Controller around for PC sessions, because whatever I think of Microsoft’s spreadsheet decisions, the hardware people and game people there still do great work. That’s exactly the point. The workers were never the problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Save Our Devs campaign?

It’s a protest campaign by OneBGS, the CWA-affiliated union representing Bethesda Game Studios workers, responding to Microsoft’s July 2026 Xbox layoffs. Rallies were held July 15 at studio locations in Rockville, Austin, Dallas, and Montreal.

How many people did Microsoft lay off from Xbox in July 2026?

The July 6 announcement covered roughly 3,200 Xbox job eliminations, including 440 union-represented positions across Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax Online Studios, id Software, QA, and corporate teams.

Which Bethesda and ZeniMax studios were hit hardest?

WARN Act filings show 213 cuts at ZeniMax Online Studios in Maryland (The Elder Scrolls Online), 96 at id Software, 166 at ZeniMax Media, 22 at BGS Austin, and 40 remote workers tied to the Dallas studio.

Will the layoffs affect upcoming Bethesda games?

Microsoft says projects continue, but cutting hundreds of experienced developers across the studios behind The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and DOOM makes delays and quality risks more likely. History hasn’t been kind to studios gutted mid-project.