Giant Rat Leads Protests Against Xbox Layoffs Outside Bethesda HQ

I mean Microsoft are clearly going to hire all these people back now aren't they after a stunt like this.
Sharma probably will have it sorted as soon as she enters the building after seeing that rat.
It's not like any other companies in the industry has let people go lately is it.

Unfortunately, I think these layoffs are necessary for Xbox to survive. I imagine the alternative to maintaining such a large workforce would be things like losing more exclusives or raising the price of Game Pass, and I think it’s become clear that this causes enormous damage to the platform.

Surely, SURELY this will make MS reverse all the layoffs! The inflatable rat and flags were the tipping point!

were I come from you call anyone a rat you either gotta put up a stance or you sleep with the fishies.....so XBOX you RAT BASTA...

the French were the best at resolving issues...le guillotine.... If only...

The part where Asha and ilk jut ignored it is honestly telling.

Meanwhile Pearl Abyss properly supports employees.

A performative act that is all show & will be of zero use to the union members going forward. I am sure everyone is happy to pay their union dues for such decisive action🙄

I'm a simple man. I like scabby he's cute

That thumbnail image isn’t getting the credit it deserves. Art

Absolutely love the solidarity of Bethesda's developers here. Not only with protesting outside, but also filling the office with posters and what not to let management know it's unacceptable and inexcusable what they have done to their studio, and to their colleagues & friends.

"If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world." - Satoru Iwata

Fire more of these disgusting theater kids

It’s like these people want to be next for the chopping block!

I thought it was a good way of having a peaceful protest. Unlike some protests that get out of hand and violent.

@oopsiezz
Well let’s be honest of late it’s only Nintendo that seem to know what they are doing overall out of the big three and on a stable good footing.

@WhiteAzn I think that would constitute retaliation

@ManicAttack He's obviously joking dude come on lighten up 🙂

Well, all of them don't seem like very nice people and that goes for those at the top. The industry needs a clean, a cleanse and a shutdown for bit id say.

Edit: especially with these current ram prices.

Bethesda hasn't made a good game in a long time. They have been due for a downscaling. The last few "good games" they made weren't even actually good it was modders that make their games good. They are nicknamed bugthesda for a reason.

No one wants to hear of Job losses but lets be honest here, the vast majority were Quality testers and been at Bethesda 5yrs or less - in other words, only involved with play testing Starfield before it released with the bugs, glitches and issues that had - let alone the Previous game Fallout 76. None of these were employed when Bethesda made and released the 'good' Fallout games or worked on Oblivion, Morrorwind or Skyrim.

When checked on LinkedIn, it became obvious these weren't important or 'skilled' creative developers. A LOT were only Game Testers and been at Bethesda for a few years at most and had 'no' previous experience. As for whether they were right to be let go, just look at how broken Starfield was on its PS5 release despite the 'years' its been out on Xbox/PC to ensure a 'smooth' and 'bug-free' release - isn't that what Testers are supposed to do?

Again, its terrible to lose your Job, but if you were good enough and/or indispensable to the creation and development of games with a 'proven' track record, I doubt you'd be there protesting!

I feel for anyone who's ever lost a job due to layoffs. It happened to me back in 2010. It sucks!

.....but come on! I guess because it happens in the game industry it's supposed to be worst or something. It happens to other people in other fields of work and no one cares.

@Gabrie NeSsAcRy

That’s cool that the other employees care and remember these are people with lives and financial obligations. It won’t change anything but at least some people still remember.

Microsoft has definitely made some bad decisions. I feel like every time they have a win, they also have a setback.

@somnambulance it always reminds me of Hot Fuzz, when the locals all just chant 'For the greater good'.

@somnambulance Many seem to be holding the devs personally responsible for Xbox’s current situation. They have also convinced themselves that everyone laid off was a bad employee or otherwise deserved it.

Because Mr. Moneybags Phil Spencer telling everyone to do whatever because GamePass will bankroll everything isn’t to blame, neither is Matt Booty doing less than nothing as head of studios. Nope! It’s all the evil, lazy devs taking advantage of this underdog (trillion-dollar) corporation.

Nobody should be forced to hold onto bad employees. Teachers with tenure have the kind of job security expected by these people. Well, how would you describe the current quality of public school education?

@somnambulance So when the union meeting happens after the next round off lay offs I am sure they will be so confused. They will be like we deployed the rat & everything how could this happen again.

That doesn't make me pro corporate but more not very impressed with actions like this that changes nothing for anyone. Seen it in other industries and it does grind my gears somewhat.

@RiverGenie Why do plebs demonstrating against the proletariat bother you?

@Weebleman you heard it here first: Asha Sharma is a crusty juggler.

@8th_Observer effective actions vs ineffective actions. See if you can guess which one I think this is. I will give you a clue - nothing will change as a result of a giant inflatable rat, subtle clue right 😉

@RiverGenie That’s a strong desire to dismiss this, wonder where that comes from

@8th_Observer At the end of the day any opinions expressed here are about as useful as .... well a giant inflatable rat.

Be that as it may if the CWA members found this to be an effective & useful use of their time then go them I guess. While I doubt it will change anything I would be delighted to be wrong & wish them the best for the future.

@Tasuki I agree, length in general doesn't matter but with a Gaming Company that hasn't made anything 'great' in the last 5yrs or more and what they have released has been buggy and not really up to the standard you should expect for a 'premium' game, The length of service shows these were not people involved in the best loved games from Bethesda and the vast majority were brought in with NO experience as Quality testers - which considering the state of the games released, were not great at their job, being paid to sit around playing games to assess the 'Quality'.

Its not as if they fired the Devs that actually make games and will no doubt be working on making ES6 right now - they got rid of many whose first job on their linked in Profile was as a Quality Tester for Bethesda and only joined in the last few years or so.

If you can't accept that maybe they were 'surplus to requirements' moving forward, then maybe you can accept they were 'fired' for not being good at their job. The last couple of games haven't been good enough to release to the public.

If it was just about money, I do have an issue that MS has closed and let go Studios that make the Products that Gamers will buy, gamers will sub to Game Pass for, gamers will join the Xbox ecosystem to play - even if they aren't 'big' sellers individually, they were all still 'Xbox' games and collectively benefitted the 'brand'. I have a BIG issue with their messaging about Sustainability and long term future whilst Nadella took nearly $100m pay last year but getting rid of some Game Testers, some who sit around playing games all day and then still release broken games would make sense even if the industry wasn't buckling under the Greed at the top!

Fire every single person and rehire based on real talent. Current game devs are just assemblers that can only work within the confines of the Unreal Engine or Unity software. If those engines have issues then their output will match. They don't know what they're doing and they're not technical enough or even creative enough.

Keep the social activists away, although that will also take a change in Microsoft policies that Phil Spencer foolishly implemented, thinking he was being a "good" person.

Yeah good riddance to the lazy devs and their crappy games...all you ppl crying over this don't even work for xbox so stfu....cleaning house getting rid of the crap they don't need...

@Tasuki Again you are missing the point - these are NOT major people at the company and only hired in the last few years as Quality testers - not as vital developers necessary to make a game and likely 'surplus' to requirements if you haven't got games to test, or have other testers withing the Xbox branch that will do that same job as and when required - after all, its not something you need 'daily' at a single studio that releases games every 5yrs or more.

No one wants to hear of Job losses, but in this industry, you don't need everyone all the time. Yes in affluent times, you may keep the staff because its easier than hiring when required and letting go once they've finished that project - only to hire again when the next project nears completion. Thy haven't actually fired the devs, the ones building the games, the creative minds behind the games, just the ones who sit on their ass playing games so the Devs can get the 'data' they need, to play the game as we would so they find any bugs or problems etc and yes, AI could probably do there job far more efficiently, far more effectively and a lot more cheaply.

Its not just about the money, as I said, I have issues with MS saying it can't afford to keep Studios like Double Fine, Compulsion etc and whilst I'm glad they didn't shutter them, I do think its ridiculous when Nadella gets nearly $100m salary last year as well as tax breaks (but I won't bring Corrupt politics that gave the rich those Tax breaks into the conversation) but getting rid of staff that are surplus to requirements, not needed moving forward and literally get paid to sit around 'playing' games, not making them is not a decision I find difficult to accept or understand - in fact it makes a LOT of sense.

We want games much quicker and they aren't willing to spend as much making them, so get rid of all those who aren't required yet costing money - they spend months playing games that adds to the time and costs yet really don't add anything. AI can play the game 1000's of times an hour whilst 1 person takes a week or more to play test it once costing time and money for what? to find some error/bug that AI can find in seconds for example at no 'cost'.

There is a lot wrong in the industry at the top, but there is also a lot of wasted time and money too because they have 'people' sat around playing games and others waiting for them to finish, to find 'something' etc. Cutting out the chaff, if it helps get the games out quicker and more cos effectively isn't a bad thing in my book.

She seems like a slimmy business woman. She deserves this and more. This is probably only the beginning of her genocide.

I love Scabby! That's what they get for being scabs

@Tasuki I never said THEY as people don't matter, the Job they had though didn't matter and isn't 'vital' or even remotely important to the Company, the Industry or the production of Games either in the past or looking ahead.

Yes it 'sucks' to lose your Job and yes I do know what that feels like after the Family owned Company I worked for got bought out by a big corporate business and decided to move Production over 100miles away instead. I, as well as ALL of us who worked in that family owned business were basically surplus to requirements as they had Staff elsewhere that would work in their 'bigger' facility to do the work I and ALL my colleagues would do and the site that had been family owned and built up over a century or more was 'sold off' to some construction company to build houses on instead.

That's just the way of the world - you either make yourself indispensable, valued and/or required for whatever that Company does or you get 'replaced'. I'm also old enough to see people from the 'old' ways of working in the Press, typesetters who'd lay out pages 'manually' get replaced by Graphic Designers like myself who'd use Computers to effectively do the same job so much quicker and with more complexity, more colour etc than they were able to do - back when Newspapers moved from Black and white to Colour.

Point is, these people are NOT Studio developers making games - they are people who sat on their asses playing video games so the people who actually make the games can collect Data, can find out if their Code works or crashes, can find out if their quest lines work as expected etc because they had those 'play testers' sat on their asses playing their games and getting paid for it.

They are 'surplus'. If the Studio/Company decided to close down that whole area because they can use the SAME function provided somewhere else within the Company, so they don't 'need/require' their own Play Testers for example or not really expected to have 'work' for them and they are just draining resources because you keep them on the books, that's not benefitting anyone in reality - yes they maybe getting a wage, but its not helping us get games quicker or any more cost effectively, not helping the studio make games to a specific budget if they are having to pay people who really aren't 'contributing' to the development, the 'creation'.

Asha has ONLY JUST come in, and the Previous Management not long left so you can't blame her and part of the 'Course' Correction may well be to cut out unnecessary departments, unnecessary costs that make their games a lot more likely to be 'profitable' and therefore keep that Studio open for the coming years - cut ot the dead wood and where they are wasting part of their 'budget', even replace with more efficient, faster, cheaper and far better options like AI for example who can play the game 1000's of times an hour whilst that whole team would struggle to play it 10x in a week so provide far more data and test it far more times so the devs have far more Data and testing in far shorter time and at much lower cost to them too.

@Tasuki People aren't let go if they are required or important to the running of that studio, important or needed to the creation of games etc. They get rid of the excess baggage and keep those they need/require.

As I said, its disappointing to find out you are NOT important or Vital to the Company who employed you, but that's ALWAYS been the case. The Employer will sacrifice the 'chaff' in times of Hardship, keeping the 'cream', the people they deem important/vital to their company and its future whilst clearing out those who are surplus to requirements, those that can easily be replaced if/when circumstances change but for right now, aren't needed, aren't important to the Company or its ability to function, to carry on delivering what they are 'known' for.

Don't forget, most of these Studios expanded because of the Boom during the Pandemic and the impact on working conditions that 'slowed' down development, made it less efficient and a lot slower due social distancing etc - but then never 'trimmed' the fat afterwards...

I don't want to defend the layoffs but I think they're barking up the wrong tree here. That decision was made due to years of mismanagement with the Xbox upper brass, not because of anything Asha herself did specifically. I'm not an expert at business so I don't know if there were any better options or not, but I think the mass layoffs we've seen across the industry are a result of deeper issues with our capitalist society rather than one person deciding to let people loose.