After weeks of rumors and speculation, Xbox has confirmed today that it is cutting 3,200 jobs, with some of its first-party studios under the Microsoft umbrella either getting sold or returning to independence. In the accompanying note from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, there is no mention of anything specific regarding ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent company, but according to reliable journalist Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, the creator of The Elder Scrolls series is being affected by this restructuring to focus on its key franchises.
"ZeniMax, as I mentioned, is going to be impacted pretty significantly. They're going to be restructured to a franchise first model. They're basically going to be focusing on their biggest franchises," said Schreier in a fresh video. "They are going to focus on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Quake, Wolfenstein and DOOM so all five of those franchises are going to be a big focus for ZeniMax moving forward."
Despite DOOM: The Dark Ages not being the same smashing commercial success as DOOM Eternal, there was little doubt that Xbox would continue the franchise. Wolfenstein and Quake, however, are slightly more surprising. Although both received new entries in 2019 and 2022, respectively, in terms of recent commercial success, they are definitely not on par with The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series.
Among the games Bethesda is working on, the most anticipated is The Elder Scrolls 6. Although it was announced in 2018, we haven't seen much of the game yet, and we likely won't see it anytime soon as it rapidly approaches its 10 years in development milestone. According to Schreier, Bethesda and Xbox see the game as a big bet moving forward, so the restructuring could definitely benefit its development by increasing focus on core franchises.
Given that the Xbox business is not healthy, as highlighted in today's note, it's not surprising to see the company double down on its most popular franchises, setting smaller, experimental games aside. While this is set to further worsen the homogenized feel of modern AAA games, it is definitely the right call, considering that the previous strategy of providing diverse content for Xbox Game Pass failed.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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