Today, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma got a "live playthrough" of The Elder Scrolls 6, offering exuberant praise of the upcoming RPG's scale and story. Some Bethesda workers took the opportunity to remind Sharma of the 3,200 employees that are being cut under her watch as part of Xbox's massive restructure.
"Today at HQ, we had special guests from Microsoft leadership," according to a Bluesky post from OneBGS, a union representing employees at Bethesda. "We refuse to let executives forget what game studios are actually made of: their workers. As welcome gift, we placed hundreds of flags outside, honoring all of the game workers who have been laid off by Microsoft in 2026 (so far)."
But those flags aren't the only visible form of protest for Sharma's visit: there's also the giant inflatable rat, shown below in a post from journalist Chris Kerr. These sorts of inflatable rat displays are common at union protests and strikes, and the message from employees is clear.
NEW: CWA union members have inflated a giant rat and deployed a wall of red flags representing laid off Xbox workers outside the Bethesda office in Rockville. The protest was timed to coincide with a visit from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who is apparently at the studio today.
— @kerrblimey.bsky.social ( @kerrblimey.bsky.social.bsky.social ) 2026-08-11T21:26:31.556Z
Members of the studio "decided to make our presence visible at the office to show how our developers have been impacted by these devastating layoffs," according to a statement from Nathan Hahn, technical producer at Bethesda, which was shared with Kerr.
"We're mobilising to fight back against these layoffs not just to ensure impacted XBOX devs and testers get treated fairly, but to remind our company and game studios everywhere that layoffs like this cannot continue," Hahn continues. "If Microsoft leadership does not have the courage to do what's right for our studios to make the best possible games, it's up to us to stand up for each other and protect the future of our careers and the game industry."
OneBGS previously blasted Xbox's layoffs, saying that the studio has "lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers and testers," including "many" who had been at the studio "for decades." The union continued, "If Bethesda fans are worried this will harm the quality of our future games, like TES VI, let Microsoft know!"
The Elder Scrolls 6 was officially announced in 2018 and even now, nearly a decade later, the only evidence of the game's existence consists of quotes from folks like Sharma and Bethesda boss Todd Howard. It has to be released eventually – the only real question, amid Microsoft's nigh-annual mass layoffs, is how many of Bethesda's workers will still be there when that moment comes.
