ZeniMax Online Studios head Jo Burba is among the staff cut in Microsoft's July layoffs, along with three other senior figures on The Elder Scrolls Online. The departures were first reported by Game File and followed by Rock Paper Shotgun and PC Gamer on July 16.
Burba had been at the studio for 14 years and worked on The Elder Scrolls Online since its 2014 launch, PC Gamer reported. He was promoted to studio lead in July 2025, which Rock Paper Shotgun noted was around the time of the previous year's Xbox layoffs. Executive producer Susan Kath, game director Rich Lambert and production director Ala Diaz have also lost their roles.
Documents seen by Game File indicate all four will stay on for "the next few months" to hand over to a new leadership team: ESO game lead Nick Giacomini, promoted to game director in August 2025, and Josh Henderson, ZeniMax's head of business operations.
We have tremendous confidence in Josh and Nick, the future of this studio, and the continued growth of ESO.
What it means for ESO's output
The same memo told staff that "exciting experiences" remained ahead as the team wrapped up work on Update 51. Developers affected by the cuts were less confident in public. Senior encounter designer Morgan Goin, also laid off, told the BBC the studio would not be able to put out content at the speed it had been managing, "or anything approaching that". ZeniMax's line after the layoffs was that it needed time to evaluate the work in front of it before locking down an updated schedule.
A WARN notice filed in Maryland, where both ZeniMax Online Studios and parent company ZeniMax Media are based, puts the total at 379 eliminated roles. PC Gamer reported the split as 213 from ZeniMax Online Studios and 166 from ZeniMax Media, the latter covering Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda's publishing operations.
PC Gamer put ZeniMax Online's headcount at roughly 461 in late 2024, based on union membership, and calculated that the 2025 and 2026 rounds together have removed at least 40% of the workforce. The 2025 cuts also cancelled an in-development MMO led by studio founder Matt Firor. ESO community manager Kevin Gbolie said after this round that the plan was still to deliver content, with an update expected.
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