Bethesda Game Studios reportedly suffered "significant" cuts during this week's Xbox layoffs, which put 1,600 employees out of work across Microsoft's gaming division as the initial wave of a sweeping reorganization scheme aiming to achieve 3,800 layoffs by the end of the company's 2027 fiscal year.
In the aftermath of Xbox's bloodletting, the Bethesda Game Studios Union says staff at the studio's Rockville, Maryland office assembled a "Celebration of Service" display honoring their laid off colleagues—a display that employees were "almost immediately" forced to remove by the company's human resources department, the union says.
Unfortunately, HR made our office manager take this down almost immediately. They said because it's in a common area, it had to be removed. We've used common areas for many things as a team, including fan works, but HR seems to believe that a Celebration of Service is inappropriate.
— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T20:10:38.427Z
The BGSU first shared images of the Rockville display on Bluesky this morning, saying the Maryland office had been inspired by a similar display that had been organized by employees at Bethesda's Dallas offices. A follow-up post, however, indicated that the display had been short-lived.
"Unfortunately, HR made our office manager take this down almost immediately," the BGS Union said. "They said because it's in a common area, it had to be removed."
According to the union, staff had previously used common areas like the one hosting the memorial display without issue for purposes like displaying fan works, "but HR seems to believe that a Celebration of Service is inappropriate."
Now—while I'd never suggest that you have to hand it to the HR department of a Microsoft subsidiary—I will admit that the framed photos and solemn floral arrangement shown in the union's images did lend the display a certain funereal air. But if HR didn't allow staff an opportunity to alter the display to look less like it was mourning a more permanent sort of tragedy, tamping down on employee commiseration after watching hundreds of colleagues and peers lose their livelihoods isn't a great look.
The extent of the layoffs is striking: Among those who lost their jobs this week were Bethesda Games Studios staff like Christiane Meister, a senior character artist who oversaw character art asset creation from every Elder Scrolls game from Morrowind to Skyrim during her 27-year tenure at the studio.
"We lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers, and testers. Many of whom worked at BGS for decades," the BGS Union said in another Bluesky post earlier this week. "If Bethesda fans are worried this will harm the quality of future games, like The Elder Scrolls 6, let Microsoft know!"
PC Gamer has contacted Bethesda for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.
