Hundreds rally at Bethesda HQ to protest Xbox layoffs, and Ars was there - Ars Technica

Overview

Hundreds rally at Bethesda HQ to protest Xbox layoffs, and Ars was there

Union wants to halt a “perpetual cycle” of layoffs, get back to contract bargaining.

Details

ROCKVILLE, Maryland—Hundreds of Bethesda Game Studios and Zenimax Online Studios employees and their supporters braved nearly 100°F temperatures to protest sweeping layoffs across Xbox during a lunchtime rally in front of parent company Zenimax’s headquarters today. The rally was one of five organized today by Zenimax Workers United and its parent union, the Communication Workers of America, at offices across Texas, California, and Montreal.

Attendees held up signs with messages like “Layoffs… layoffs never change” and “Our players deserve better” as union organizers and employees rallied the crowd with speeches and songs. The overwhelming message was one of solidarity and a willingness to push back against job cuts they say have decimated their development and quality assurance teams.

Chief among the union’s demands is that Microsoft return to the bargaining table and resume contract negotiations with the remaining uncontracted members of Bethesda Game Studios (after reaching a separate agreement with QA testers last year that included guaranteed severance for laid-off employees). “We had … a reduction in force proposal on the table for months, and they ignored it,” Hahn said. “They never got back to us. So instead, they’ve chosen to do layoffs … without bargaining with us, and that’s something we’re fighting back against.”

“They can either come meet at the table [or] they can meet us in the street,” CWA District 213 vice president Mike Davis told the crowd. “They can meet us anywhere they want, but they’re gonna fight with us.”

In response to a request for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “We respect our employees’ right to make their voices heard, and we recognize that this is a difficult time for many. We reached out to the union on July 6 to begin effects bargaining and are committed to that process. We remain focused on supporting impacted employees through this transition while positioning the organization for long-term strength.”

Jay Woodward, who was let go last week after nearly 20 years of AI programming at Bethesda dating back to Fallout 3, said he hoped union action could help break what seems like a “perpetual cycle” of layoffs at Xbox. “Obviously, in the business world, we understand that this is the sort of thing that happens,” he said. “[But] it’s absolutely not inevitable. That’s a complete nonsense concept, especially when the studio, when the overall company is doing fantastically well, there’s no need to say that this has to happen.”

In announcing the layoffs last week, Microsoft CEO Asha Sharma said the move was necessary to restructure a business that is “not healthy” and is operating at margins well below the competition. “These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one, Sharma said. “This year, we’ll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates.”

Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton addresses the crowd and offers her support for the laid-off workers.

Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton appeared at the rally to offer her support for a group of employees she said are a key part of the local community and economy. “We have seen job losses related to issues in the federal government… [but] to see the gaming industry that has been blossoming, so this, it’s something that I’m concerned about,” Ashton said. “I know that there are jobs going overseas, and jobs going to AI. It’s going to touch every industry, and we, as consumers, have to say, we value people.”

Ashton told Ars she would speak with the County Council and the Maryland Department of Labor to advocate for fairness in how employees are treated.

Following a round of layoffs last year, Bethesda employees said they were still shocked at the depth and breadth of the job losses in this latest round, which affected hundreds of Maryland employees. Juniper Dowell, whose five-year tenure as a quality assurance tester ended with last week’s layoffs, told Ars that the reduced workforce continuing work on franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls would be akin to “trying to sing with half a choir or a band with a drummer missing.”

“[Last year] we lost about 100 folks, and that was impossible to deal with,” Dowell said. “And this time we lost even more. … This is skilled labor. You can’t pull someone off the street and ask them to start developing games or to start testing games. These are skills that are learned and honed over time. And the people who do this matter. And to treat it like they don’t is absurd, frankly.”

Between the last round of layoffs and the promise of 1,600 more planned across Xbox for the coming fiscal year, the mood among the remaining employees at Bethesda is “bleak,” Dowell said. After surviving last year’s layoffs, Dowell said she remembers what it was like “to come to work the day after layoffs and try to keep going and be told, ‘Here are tasks that people that you know had relationships with were doing, and now you have to do them today.’”

System Designer Mandy Parker, whose position was not affected by the latest round of layoffs, told Ars that “it’s hard to be creative, it’s hard to be able to tell stories when we’re worried about people next to us and ourselves.” Parker also pushed back against the Microsoft narrative that these latest layoffs were focused heavily on reducing redundant layers of middle management, saying she wasn’t aware of any middle managers let go in her office. “These folks [being laid off in quality assurance], they don’t make a lot of money,” Parker said. “They’re taking home pizzas from our cafeteria, for their kids to eat, to help them. We don’t get the big Microsoft money.”

“If you weren’t caught this time, you’ll be caught next time,” Parker told the crowd during the rally. “I study systems, and [when] I see a broken system, I say it when it’s broken. This is a fucking broken system!”

Union organizers said fans should go to the Xbox Player Voice forums to express their support for the developers of the games they love. “They’re the people that pay their salaries in there,” CWA’s Davis said of the players. “You know, those managers can’t have jobs without those people.”

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Key Takeaways

Hundreds rally at Bethesda HQ to protest Xbox layoffs, and Ars was there
Union wants to halt a “perpetual cycle” of layoffs, get back to contract bargaining
ROCKVILLE, Maryland—Hundreds of Bethesda Game Studios and Zenimax Online Studios employees and their supporters braved nearly 100°F temperatures to protest sweeping layoffs across Xbox during a lunchtime rally in front of parent company Zenimax’s headquarters today
Attendees held up signs with messages like “Layoffs… layoffs never change” and “Our players deserve better” as union organizers and employees rallied the crowd with speeches and songs
Chief among the union’s demands is that Microsoft return to the bargaining table and resume contract negotiations with the remaining uncontracted members of Bethesda Game Studios (after reaching a separate agreement with QA testers last year that included guaranteed severance for laid-off employees)