Microsoft is in full damage control mode following last week’s catastrophic layoffs of 1,600 game workers—with another 1,600 to come—and if you observe its efforts (not very) closely, you’ll spot a theme: Fallout. Last week, it was Obsidian pivoting back to Fallout all these years after fan favorite New Vegas. This week, it’s Bethesda uttering words gamers have been waiting a decade to hear: Fallout 5.
In a lengthy note published today, Bethesda talked about how it’s “investing more deeply in the worlds players love” despite having just laid off hundreds of employees, touching on Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 without really saying much about them beyond what we already knew: They’re in development, they’re using custom Bethesda tech, and Elder Scrolls VI will be the first of the two to release… at some point.
The note does not mention layoffs nor the many extremely talented people who contributed to the aforementioned projects—as well as Starfield, Fallout 76, and Elder Scrolls Online, not to mention classics like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. It takes on the same tone as notes published by other recently eviscerated studios like Doom and Quake institution id Software: Despite layoffs that, in many cases, cut teams in half, everything is Fine. Better than fine, in fact; studios are working on sequels to things you’ve heard of! Yaaaaaay.
The implicit message? All the bloodletting was—and will continue to be—worth it. This is just the price other people have to pay for your favorite games. Some self-proclaimed fans of these series have even declared the layoffs just punishment after developers didn’t give them exactly what they wanted sooner. Ameliorative non-announcements like these do not disabuse them of that notion.
But what really got me wasn’t Bethesda’s post about its thrilling future in the franchise mines, but what Xbox CEO and pain sponge Asha Sharma had to say in response:
Todd Howard just shared plans for the Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Starfield franchises. These worlds have earned a special place with hundreds of millions of people over many years. I'm looking forward to what's next, including the partnership with Obsidian on a new Fallout game and closer collaboration with ZeniMax Online Studios on The Elder Scrolls. The achievements of these franchises are remarkable: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has crossed 65 million units sold, becoming one of the 10 best-selling games of all time, Fallout 4 has also crossed 35 million units sold, joining the top 25, and Starfield will soon reach over 1 billion hours played.
This statement sucks so bad that it makes my blood boil. Look what the franchises did, all by themselves! Look what they’ve accomplished, of their own volition, thanks to their own intrinsic goodness! So many big numbers, which translate to giant heaps of cash in the bank accounts of execs and shareholders! Never mind the hundreds of people—aside from genius auteur solo indie dev Todd Howard—who spent decades painstakingly crafting the games, stories, and other creative endeavors that corporate ghouls now so happily flatten into “franchises,” erasing themes, meaning, and human beings in favor of empty iconography. Let's talk this way the same week workers are demonstrating outside studios around the country in an effort to put faces and voices to exactly what you've callously thrown away.
This is how the people running the show at Xbox—and countless companies besides—view games, not to mention everything else in their robotic, colorless lives. Numbers and lines trending ever upward. Fuel for platitudes and faux-inspirational nonsense directed at the LinkedIn hivemind, of which they all paradoxically believe they’re the main character. Another stepping stone toward the next bigger, better thing. No ultimate destination, no camaraderie, no soul. Just an endless ladder that leads to the void regardless of which way you climb.
Of course someone like this would survey the current landscape of justified rage and fear—after she, a glorified crony, buoyed by other cronies beneath her, tore crucial organs out of the games industry—and brainlessly burp up a bunch of names and numbers. Sharma is as hollow as her statements, and if things continue at their current pace, Xbox will be too.
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Nathan Grayson
