A Microsoft-owned video game publisher will lay off 158 Texas-based employees this September in a significant company restructuring, according to a notice filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.
Maryland-based ZeniMax Media will eliminate the positions of 96 Richardson employees, 40 remote employees and 22 Austin employees effective Sept. 4.
The company, which was acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2020, owns several major video game development studios — including Bethesda Game Studios, which makes popular game franchises The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and Id Software, the Richardson-based developer that makes Doom and Quake.
Under Texas’ Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, businesses are required to provide 60 days' notice of mass layoffs. In the notice letter sent to the workforce commission on July 6 and obtained by KERA, the company said approximately 146 affected employees are represented by the Communications Workers of America union.
Termination dates for represented workers who are “not yet subject” to a collective bargaining agreement will be determined by effects bargaining between the company and union, and some employees may be offered short-term continued employment to complete specific projects, the letter said.
Affected positions span across several roles, including programmers, developers, producers, designers, artists and engineers.
The layoffs come as Microsoft’s Xbox prepares for a significant company restructuring, with plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 3,200 throughout the 2027 fiscal year, CEO Asha Sharma announced to employees Monday. This includes 1,600 immediate role eliminations and the departure of four studios to new management, the announcement said.
Sharma said the business today “is not healthy” and is operating at margins three to 10 times lower than comparable businesses.
KERA has reached out to ZeniMax Media for comment and will update this story with any response.
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