ZeniMax employees publicly declared after Microsoft's massive layoffs caused more than 9,000 people to lose their jobs, saying the process — reportedly "hundreds" of the studio's employees were laid off — was "inhumane." "This is not right at all. It's not normal," senior QA tester Autumn Mitchell told Game Developer. "I don't care how many times Microsoft layoffs, trying to make this behavior seem accustomed to it - it's just abnormal. Their approach is cruel. No matter how nice they say it, what they say is decent and respect is actually not that." This month's layoffs have affected multiple Xbox studios, including Rare, Turn 10, The Initiative and Raven Software, and with the cancellation of multiple projects, this is also the third time Microsoft has laid off a large scale since 2023. An insider who revealed to Game Developer described the chaos caused by the layoffs: Many employees were cut off from company communication channels such as Slack and email before the HR department contacted them, causing "widespread confusion and panic." Another employee, Page Branson, said Microsoft "failed to clearly state who would be affected", causing colleagues to "fall into pain and confusion." “Forcing people to rush to leave farewell messages to colleagues who have worked with for many years and earned money for the company for 15 years is disgusting,” Mitchell said. "It's so disgusting." "If I could say something to any executive now, it's: Please revisit the process because it's simply not normal and absolutely unacceptable... It's a serious trauma event that must be treated as trauma... How can we alleviate the impact of this extreme trauma on people - including those who stayed behind?" Branson also expressed his dissatisfaction with Microsoft's handling of layoffs. The layoffs were announced by Xbox head Phil Spencer in an internal memorandum, which also celebrated the company's "success", emphasizing that "the number of players, number of games and duration of games all reached record highs" and said that "the platform, hardware and game roadmap is unprecedentedly strong." “These massive layoffs affect real people and real families and disrupt their lives,” Branson continued. "My core appeal is to have empathy. I hope people can think of the human cost behind the decisions." According to a Game Developer source, Microsoft's layoffs affected "hundreds" of ZeniMax employees. So, Branson said: "A lot of practical experience disappeared overnight... Everyone who stayed now has to do his best to clean up the mess. The low morale and chaos have spread to our daily work. We used to have very reliable people in charge of all things, but they are no longer there." "Microsoft completely destroyed what might have been a good foundation of culture and collaboration," she added. “The morale is terrible now, it’s ugly. People are under great pressure and even crying.” “The exhausted workers left behind,” Mitchell added, “are still expected to continue to launch award-winning games.” As Game Developer noted, Mitchell and Branson are both members of ZeniMax Workers Union (ZWU-CWA), who both believe that the consequences of this layoff would be “much more serious” if the studio’s employees had not joined the union. “If there was no external organization to argue for our affected colleagues and employees who still had jobs,” Branson said, “there would be a world of difference.” Of course, layoffs continue to plague the gaming industry. Tens of thousands of employees — whether they are large publishers or small studios — have lost their jobs over the past few years. Just this week, The Chinese Room, which developed Still Wakes the Deep, and Supermassive Games, which produced the series "The Dark Pictures Anthology", also announced layoffs. ![Image 1: https://media.contentapi.ea.com/content/dam/ea/lost-lands/articles/2024/01/lost-lands-jan-article-image.jpg.adapt.crop16x9.jpg]

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