- Bethesda revoked the health benefits of laid-off developers on the same day it announced the Fallout roadmap.
- The company is only giving minimum severance pay to the staff let go at Montreal Studio.
- The union protecting these developers has already filed a legal complaint against the company.
The recent layoffs at Xbox are still making waves in the gaming community weeks after the initial impact. The company fired over 3,000 employees, shed multiple studios like the award-winning Compulsion Games, and obliterated the team at id Software by firing over 70% of the studio.
Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer Bethesda was also affected, with the union protecting employees claiming that the recent Fallout announcements were just a distraction from these layoffs. As it turns out, the day Bethesda released its future roadmap, developers were fighting the company for their health insurance.
Why it matters: The practice of paying the minimum severance to laid-off employees is becoming too common to be an accidental occurrence and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
In a post on BlueSky, Bethesda’s labor union OneBGS stated that the company revoked benefits like health insurance from laid-off employees on the same day it announced Fallout 5 and other upcoming projects.
Developers who were let go at Bethesda’s Montreal studio received a termination letter, stating that they would get the smallest severance pay legally possible. This notice was sent without negotiating with a union and on the same day the studio announced exciting games like the Fallout New Vegas remake.
According to the union, these new terms were completely different from what Bethesda originally agreed with Montreal Studio employees. The company promised to hire laid-off developers until September while it negotiated the severance pay with the union, but it went back on the promise a few days later.
Furthermore, OneBGS revealed that it is filing another legal complaint against Bethesda, as the company can’t just dispose of dozens of employees who made the company millions of Dollars. Considering how Ubisoft was also under fire recently for laying off developers and giving them the bare minimum severance pay, this trend in the industry should ring the alarm bells for everyone involved.
Do you think Bethesda should have treated its laid-off employees better? Is this new trend worrying for developers? Tell us in the comments below or head to the Tech4Gamers forum for discussion.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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