Bethesda union workers march outside studios July 15 over Xbox mass layoffs

OneBGS, the CWA-affiliated Bethesda Game Studios union, is organizing a Save Our Devs March at all four studio locations on July 15 at 12:30pm Eastern. Workers will march outside offices in Montreal, Rockville, Austin, and Dallas to protest the latest wave of Xbox layoffs that eliminated 440 union positions across Bethesda and ZeniMax.

The full scope of the cuts is staggering. A Maryland WARN Act notice confirms 213 layoffs at ZeniMax Online Studios — the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online — and 166 from ZeniMax Media, totaling 379 in that state alone. A separate Texas WARN notice lists 136 layoffs at id Software under the ZeniMax Media name. ZeniMax Online had 461 union members at the end of 2024; combined with 62 layoffs last July, the studio has now lost roughly 275 employees in under a year and a half, leaving it at around 40% of its former headcount. Across Xbox as a whole, roughly 1,600 workers were cut in this round, with another 1,600 expected over the next 12 months. Microsoft's total across all divisions reached approximately 4,800. In their statement, the OneBGS organizing committee was direct: "The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won't let that happen."

The march comes after weeks of mounting tension. Multiple Xbox unions have been in contract negotiations with the company for months, with union reps saying last week that Xbox had stalled discussions on layoff protections. Earlier this week, Bethesda employees set up small memorials in office common areas for laid-off colleagues — HR told them to take the tributes down. OneBGS has previously described the layoffs as a "stressful annual routine" under Microsoft, and that framing holds up: Xbox has now conducted at least one mass layoff every year for three consecutive years, and has shut down studios behind major releases including Hi-Fi Rush and Prey. The scale of damage at ZeniMax Online is particularly hard to square with the studio's commercial track record — a since-amended LinkedIn post by former ESO UX lead Gary Boodhoo cited the game as generating $15 million in monthly revenue for over a decade.

The July 15 march is framed as both a show of solidarity and a warning to management that further cuts carry real consequences for the talent Microsoft still has. With 1,600 more layoffs expected across Xbox in the coming year, the union is pushing hard to establish that it won't absorb another round quietly. Kotaku has reached out to Xbox for comment; no response has been reported.