Rumor: Bethesda Studio Shut Down by Microsoft

Microsoft may have shut down Bethesda France as part of the layoffs announced earlier this year. Multiple people have recently appeared online claiming that Bethesda France was closed, but Microsoft did not confirm these rumors at the time of this report.

Microsoft announced major layoffs back in January, revealing that it would cut around 1,900 employees from its company in 2024. It was a pretty controversial decision, especially considering that Activision Blizzard was heavily affected by the layoffs, despite being purchased by Microsoft during the previous year. These cuts represented around 8% of Microsoft’s entire workforce, and the company did not disclose exactly what areas would be affected by the decision.

Now, a new rumor indicates that Microsoft may have shut down Bethesda France after 12 years of the company’s existence. According to Insider Gaming, multiple people have talked about the possible closure of the company on social media. The examples include a former Bethesda France community manager called Scotty Cool, who lamented leaving the company after working there for eight years and thanked the community for their support. In the replies to Scotty’s tweet, he confirmed that he left Bethesda France due to global mass layoffs at Microsoft.

Fans of Bethesda’s biggest hits such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls should know that these possible layoffs will likely not have a major impact on the company’s plans for future games, though. Bethesda France employed 15 employees, according to Insider Gamer, and most of them were focused on marketing and publishing games in the country.

Even now, the full impact of Microsoft’s layoffs is still unknown. However, the layoffs seem to be greatly impacting secondary areas of gaming companies such as customer service, marketing, and publishing. For instance, soon after the layoffs were announced, it was revealed that most of Blizzard’s customer support team had been let go, with Microsoft planning to outsource some of