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ZeniMax reportedly lays off 300 staff in Ireland (as of several months ago)

D

dmr87

Member
Can't say I'm shocked, but awful timing.

Roughly 300 employees from the Irish branch of ZeniMax Online Studios have apparently lost their jobs.

The Connacht Tribune, a regional newspaper, reports that the firm’s business in Galway, Ireland has essentially been shut down, with the vast majority of full-time and contract employees let go.

The Galway office of ZeniMax served as a European customer services centre. The Tribune’s source suggest that a handful of employees – “around half-a-dozen” – have been kept on “to keep things ticking over”, and that the office may expand again in line with a future game release.

The Irish office was only opened in early 2014, ahead of the launch of The Elder Scrolls Online.
Click to expand...

http://www.develop-online.net/news/zenimax-reportedly-lays-off-300-staff/0214995
http://connachttribune.ie/games-over-for-software-giants-as-galway-loses-300-jobs-741/

edit - title update
 
S

Servbot #42

Unconfirmed Member
there must be a financial reason why all these companies don't wait until the new year to layoff people, still pretty damn shitty.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Delayed reporting by Connacht Tribune.

Most employees (the "300") from the Irish branch of ZOS were laid off several months ago. Just a skeleton crew of less than 10 people have been at the site since before Fallout 4 launched.
 
K

Kyougar

Member
Shitty Thing to do. I think they were Customer care for Elder Scrolls Online.
Working in the same line of work, I know of the fluctuations here. Probably staffed up (or just held at that Level from the PC Launch) for ELO Launch on Consoles and not enough inbound calls for it to be considered worthwhile.

"Good" thing is, many scummy tax evading corporations have their Customer Care Center in Ireland. So finding a job should not be that difficult. My buddy works at Riot Games Customer care and he said they always look for new Staff. (well, last we spoke 1 year ago) I would have no problems getting a job there and I'm currently in Germany.
 
F

Fersis

It is illegal to Tag Fish in Tag Fishing Sanctuaries by law 38.36 of the GAF Wildlife Act
Tunesmith said:
Delayed reporting by Connacht Tribune.

Most employees (the "300") from the Irish branch of ZOS were laid off several months ago. Just a skeleton crew of less than 10 people have been at the site since before Fallout 4 launched.
Click to expand...

Quoting so other people read this.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Fersis said:
Quoting so other people read this.
Click to expand...

The bulk of the 300+ in-house staff was actually laid off earlier in the year, and in stages. A lot of those have jobs at Riot/Blizzard and EA now. Moving most ESO support over to NA or outsourcing (also, remember this? it's related). The site has endured what can only be called a death by a thousand cuts since then.

The site was supposed to be shut down in October, but Zenimax needed some Fallout support so they got a (very likely temporary) reprieve.
 
V

VicDaMoan03

Member
Should have used that money or tasked that studio to alternate with BGS making single player Fallout and Elder Scrolls titles. Right now the wait between TES titles (looking like 7 years) is pretty crazy.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
VicDaMoan03 said:
Should have used that money or tasked that studio to alternate with BGS making single player Fallout and Elder Scrolls titles. Right now the wait between TES titles (looking like 7 years) is pretty crazy.
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I'm not sure customer service agents would be a good fit for game development.

That said, they did also open a second branch for Bethesda Game Studios in Montreal.
 
S

SuperHans

Member
Tunesmith said:
Delayed reporting by Connacht Tribune.

Most employees (the "300") from the Irish branch of ZOS were laid off several months ago. Just a skeleton crew of less than 10 people have been at the site since before Fallout 4 launched.
Click to expand...

Connacht Tribune should be a banned source. Tuam Hearld and Galway Advertiser are legit.

Seriously though, sad news for my home town. EA have a big centre there for the old republic mmo. I think they have branched onto other stuff though.
 
V

VicDaMoan03

Member
Nirolak said:
I'm not sure customer service agents would be a good fit for game development.

That said, they did also open a second branch for Bethesda Game Studios in Montreal.
Click to expand...

I guess I should have read the OP more carefully. I thought it was a studio closing not customer service.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
SuperHans said:
Connacht Tribune should be a banned source. Tuam Hearld and Galway Advertiser are legit.

Seriously though, sad news for my home town. EA have a big centre there for the old republic mmo. I think they have branched onto other stuff though.
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Yeah, that's their "Customer Excellence Center" or something now IIRC that handles customer service for all their games.

VicDaMoan03 said:
I guess I should have read the OP more carefully. I thought it was a studio closing not customer service.
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The main studio is over in Hunt Valley, Maryland. They release DLC packs for the game about every three months, though I couldn't tell you how those are selling.
 
T

The_Monk

Member
Here's hoping the team can find a alternative as fast as possible. Always heartbreaking to see so many people in such situation.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
Yeah this happened months ago. Knew someone who was there.


Seems like ESO did not do well. Like at all. Curious what the long term plan for it is and if they will go fully free 2 play sooner or later just to have people actually playing it and try and TOR it.
 
B

Blue Ninja

Member
The_Monk said:
Here's hoping the team can find a alternative as fast as possible. Always heartbreaking to see so many people in such situation.
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This. Elder Scrolls Online wasn't a very good game and was practically on life support when I played the DLC last month, but it's a shame so many people are out of a job.

I hope most, if not all of them, have found a new source of employment by now.
 
S

silvermember

Banned
Bankastuba said:
ESO was a major flop.
They should have made a true sandbox instead of a World of Elder Scrolls.
Click to expand...

Making it sandbox wouldn't have guarantee success either. The very nature of an MMORPG already puts a lot of players off, automatically. Just because a franchise is successful as a single player game does not ensure success as an MMO.

Final, the cost of making a sandbox elder scrolls games with the same attributes as its console version would have probably been too expensive.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
So, they opened this office in anticipation of having a huge MMO on their hands and needing all of these staff on-board, and since the game has bombed (surprising fucking no-one) they're having to let them go. Poor folk.
 
coughlanio

coughlanio

Member
Seeing the success (or lack thereof) of TESO out of the gate, it should have hardly been a surprise for anyone on board. I remember interviewing for EA straight out of college (same city as these layoffs, Galway). Had a couple of interviews, but didn't like the idea of my job depending solely on a single game's success (SWTOR at the time). I ended up not being successful, but I'm sorta glad.
 
Teletraan1

Teletraan1

Banned
Makes sense. The game since going to B2P doesn't really have any need for customer service reps in that quantity. My account was banned for no reason I was ever given around that time and has since been restored through a form I had to fill out online. Sucks for the people losing their jobs but that industry is volatile at best.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Triggerhappytel said:
So, they opened this office in anticipation of having a huge MMO on their hands and needing all of these staff on-board, and since the game has bombed (surprising fucking no-one) they're having to let them go. Poor folk.
Click to expand...

It's much more complicated than that unfortunately, but this is not the place to drag corporate politics out in the open so I'll leave it at that.

Pitiful what transpired overall.
 
L

Loudninja

Member
UPDATE 21ST DECEMBER: Bethesda PR has refuted the report by local news source Connacht Tribune. Bethesda said only approximately 50 jobs had been cut at the customer service centre as part of routine manoeuvring mid-August after the console Elder Scrolls Online launch.

"Following the successful console launch of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited in June, we have a thriving console and PC online community. We adjusted customer support levels in mid-August by reducing staffing by approximately 50 people to reflect the game's stability and the needs of our players," Bethesda PR said in a statement sent to Eurogamer. "This is a normal practice. We have been diligently working with the IDA, and the employees affected by this decision since the summer. We are disappointed by the inaccuracies in the report of the Connacht Tribune."
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ervice-office-closed-and-300-jobs-lost-report
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
00ich said:
Ahhhh, jobs in the games industry...
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It most likely won't expand again, the site is practically only still open with a crew of 7 because ZOS would have to re-pay a whole bunch of money grants given to operate in Galway if the site was shut down early before their lease ends.
 
G

gossi

Member
SolarMystic said:
Where's the spin? I don't see any. Looks like they were pretty straight forward with it.
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It's a little bit spinny with facts, Jedi mind tricks and all. Nothing wrong with spin, mind. Last year they laid off some devs, and in the press release said it didn't include devs, only customer services. I knew one of those devs, sooooo..

The Zenimax Online Studios LinkedIn page had almost 900 employees back when the game launched, it's 360 now: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zenimax-online-studios

Not slamming the game by the way. I made the OT here, and have 1300+ hours in it. It's a really great game.
 
S

SolarMystic

Member
gossi said:
It's a little bit spinny with facts, Jedi mind tricks and all. Nothing wrong with spin, mind. Last year they laid off some devs, and in the press release said it didn't include devs, only customer services. I knew one of those devs, sooooo..

The Zenimax Online Studios LinkedIn page had almost 900 employees back when the game launched, it's 360 now: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zenimax-online-studios

Not slamming the game by the way. I made the OT here, and have 1300+ hours in it. It's a really great game.
Click to expand...

So basically, Zenimax is being technical with the numbers. "Only 50" when if taking the whole year into account, it is much more?
 
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