ZeniMax Online Studios - Mass Layoffs (Retracted)

Reports of mass layoffs at ZeniMax Online's Galway location are not quite what we believed. GameInformer gives us more recent details.

My apologies for the error, and thanks to jhwisner for helping me correct it.

Earlier today, reports emerged that Zenimax had laid off approximately 300 employees at its Galway, Ireland location. We have received a statement from the publisher correcting significant inaccuracies in the report and giving us details of a scaleback that occurred months ago.

In a statement, the company says that it reduced staff by a much smaller margin in August. The location, which the Connacht Tribune (a local news outlet in Ireland) reported was “effectively shut down,” is still in operation.

“Following the successful console launch of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited in June, we have a thriving console and PC online community,” a Zenimax representative told us via email. “We adjusted customer support levels in mid-August by reducing staffing by approximately 50 people to reflect the game’s stability and the needs of our players. This is a normal practice. We have been diligently working with the IDA, and the employees affected by this decision since the summer. We are disappointed by the inaccuracies in the report of the Connacht Tribune.”

The location in question serves as a customer service center for the European territory. Zenimax received financial consideration from the Ireland Industrial Development Agency (IDA) when the facility was opened in March 2011, explaining why the publisher was working with the agency to assist laid off employees.

More information.

More information.

Well it still sucks being laid-off as I said on the other thread.

Also as I stated before it was bound to happen after going F2P. Also don't worry about retractions Aubrielle as this isn't a paid job, and you can't read every link.

I personally had to correct a few news-bits myself in the two years I was news-editor.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well it still sucks being laid as I said on the other thread.

Though as I stated before it was bound to happen after going F2P. Also don't worry about retractions Aubrielle as you can read every link on the internet.

Thank you, Couch.

And yeah…going F2P always seems like the beginning of the end, at least for a lot of games. Some games survive it, but no game feels quite the same after.

Errr, is that first sentence missing a word there Couch?

Originally Posted by Zloth
Errr, is that first sentence missing a word there Couch?

Yes it's was a small typo on my end, but have you seen the female potatoes.

Zenimax failed so hard with TESO. Why doesn't this surprise me more.

Originally Posted by luj1
Zenimax failed so hard with TESO. Why doesn't this surprise me more.

Further proof that you see what you want to see and didn't actually read what happened.

It probably has to do with the tax breaks, when a government does this the studio is forced to hire x nationals for x amount of time. Now that the delay is running out they are pruning people.

To me this creation of studios in countries/localities that provide lamentable tax breaks like Ireland, Quebec, New Orleans, England and some others is just a race to the bottom and I really dislike it. An industry like videogames absolutely does not deserve favors, and especially not multi-million dollar companies.

Also I'm not sure The Elder Scrolls was really a failure. It's just that no game can ever replicate the success of WoW ever again.