Elder Scrolls Online devs say the team is now the size it was in the 2015-2018 era
This morning, there’s a small ray of hope shining into the Elder Scrolls Online community, which is still reeling from the news that hundreds of developers were laid off from the game: The remaining staff seem to believe there’s a path forward for the enormously popular and profitable MMORPG even for an ensmallened staff.
The news come from Baratron, the admin of the UESP Discord and prominent Elder Scrolls Online player, who is attending the ESO Tavern event in Hesse, Germany, this weekend, where some of ZeniMax Online Studios staff are communicating with players in attendance.
“According to both Jason Barnes (Associate Design Director) and Jessica Folsom (Associate Director of Community Management), Zenimax Online Studios is now at the same size as it was when they made both Wrothgar and Summerset,” Baratron writes. “Which, as we know, are both highly acclaimed DLCs. So while the layoffs are extremely upsetting for everyone involved (of course including players), this is not necessarily the end of new content or the game going into maintenance mode.”
Baratron also notes that ZOS’s Nick Giacomini and Susan Kath skipped the event because they’re working on the revised roadmap: “It really is not the end yet.”
ESO’s Kevin Gbolie commented on the revelation on the forums:
“Just wanted to follow up on this as well. We are planning a revised roadmap, however as noted above, Nick and Susan are working on timing and taking care of our team, in what has been understandably a difficult week. The plan is still to deliver great content, and we will hopefully have an update soon. Just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and concern for everyone at the studio and everyone impacted by layoffs. We know that everyone appreciates it. Also apologies for any delay in follow up from me this week here on the forum. I’m currently at the Tavern.”
For those who might not remember, Wrothgar came out in 2015 as part of the large-scale Orsinium DLC, while the Summerset chapter launched in June of 2018. In between came a significant run of content, including the OG Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood DLC, the Morrowind Chapter, and Clockwork City. Clearly, a smaller team can still achieve a lot.
Of course, it’s worth noting that it’s not always about how many people you keep; it’s often about which ones. A senior dev with decades of institutional knowledge is simply going to carry more than a cheaper junior dev. Here’s hoping the seniors being laid off here have time to transfer their experience to the people who were kept.
