ZeniMax Online loses senior leadership amid Xbox restructuring cuts

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ZeniMax Online loses senior leadership amid Xbox restructuring cuts

Developed over time first seen 2 months ago

Polygon · 2 months ago

Xbox's ongoing restructuring, which will see over 3,200 jobs cut company-wide, has claimed more than 200 positions at ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer behind the popular MMO The Elder Scrolls Online. The cuts stripped out much of the studio's senior leadership, prompting a shift to a new internal management structure, and mark the second major wave of layoffs at the studio in as many years.

Among those departing are studio head Joe Burba, who had only held the role since July 2025, executive producer Susan Kath, game director Rich Lambert and production director Ala Diaz, alongside directors overseeing operations, game and audio divisions. ZeniMax Online will now be jointly led by Josh Henderson, formerly head of business operations, and Nick Giacomini, ESO's game director since August 2025, both promoted internally. The studio's workforce has now shrunk by roughly 40 per cent since 2024, though its content roadmap for the remainder of the year remains intact, and a community manager has assured fans that plans to deliver further content are unchanged; publisher ZeniMax Media, which oversees Bethesda Game Studios, was also reported to have suffered significant cuts as part of the same restructuring.

  • Xbox cuts hit 200+ jobs at Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online.
  • Studio head and senior directors depart; internal promotions fill leadership gap.
  • Workforce down ~40% since 2024, but content roadmap continues unaffected.

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ZeniMax Online Studios is a video game developer best known for The Elder Scrolls Online, a long-running online role-playing game set in the world of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series. It is part of the wider Microsoft-owned Xbox business through publisher ZeniMax Media, which also includes Bethesda Game Studios.

Xbox has been reorganising its games operations since Microsoft expanded through major acquisitions, including ZeniMax Media in 2021 and Activision Blizzard in 2023. Restructuring can involve job losses, studio closures or changes to who runs teams, as companies seek to combine departments and reduce costs.

The Elder Scrolls Online is supported through regular updates and new content, so changes in a studio’s leadership can matter to its players as well as its staff. The departures come after earlier cuts at the studio, raising questions about how its remaining teams will be managed while work continues on the game.

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Originally published by Polygon as “Another Elder Scrolls game is in jeopardy as Xbox layoffs hit heads of major studio”.