In July this year, Phil Spencer said Microsoft's gaming business has "never looked stronger" as he simultaneously announced an absolutely brutal round of layoffs. Several studios were closed outright, games were cancelled, and almost everything in Microsoft's portfolio was touched in some way, with the aftershocks still coming.
One of the developers heavily affected was Zenimax Online Studios, the maker of The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO), which saw the cancellation of an MMO codenamed Blackbird alongside an unspecified number of layoffs. Such was the impact of the latter that, despite not being included in the initial round of cuts, long-serving ZeniMax president Matt Firor fell on his sword after 18 years as studio head.
