The Elder Scrolls Online preparing for console launch admits layoffs

An unannounced number of Zenimax Studios employees has been laid off earlier today, the developer announced. All those people were working on the Elder Scrolls Online, but apparently they were no longer needed. Zenimax reminds everyone that this is perfectly normal in the case of most MMOs and ESO is no exception. The studio had to hire a large amount of developers to work on the game, but now that the Elder Scrolls Online has already been around for about six months those devs don’t really have much to do anymore. Sure, additional content is still being developed, but Zenimax can easily do it with a smaller team. On the bright side, it seems that The Elder Scrolls Online might finally make it to consoles in the near future.

“As is the norm for games of this type, we had ramped up a large workforce to develop a game of vast scale, and ramped up our customer service to handle the expected questions and community needs of The Elder Scrolls Online at launch,” Zenimax said in a statement regarding the layoffs. “Now that we are nearly 6 months post launch, we have a thriving online community in a game that runs smoothly. We remain strongly committed to The Elder Scrolls Online, and continue to invest heavily to develop new content for PC players, prepare the game for its console launch, and handle our planned expansion into important international territories. As for customer service, we continue to operate large support centers in Hunt Valley, MD and Galway, Ireland.”

In case you missed it, Zenimax is preparing The Elder Scrolls Online “for its console launch.” It’s no secret that console owners have been waiting for ages to hear an announcement regarding this. While the developer didn’t say anything specific, at least we know that they’re still working on it. Let’s hope we’ll get to see a console version sooner rather than later.