Unionized employees from several Xbox Game Studios held coordinated protests on July 15 to demand that Microsoft rethink recent layoffs and negotiate protections for affected workers. The campaign, called “Save Our Devs,” brought together staff from multiple studios to press for stronger safeguards and better severance terms.
Who joined the demonstrations
The effort is led by OneBGS, the union representing Bethesda Game Studios, and included participation from employees at Obsidian Entertainment, Blizzard and members of the United Videogame Workers-CWA.
OneBGS initially announced demonstrations in front of ZeniMax offices in Rockville, Austin, Dallas and Montreal. The union later confirmed an additional protest at Obsidian Entertainment’s headquarters in Irvine, California, with support from Blizzard employees, and a separate action on Microsoft’s Redmond campus in Washington state.
Union rejects Microsoft’s rationale for cuts
In a statement to workers, OneBGS said Microsoft is framing the layoffs as a “shift in business structure,” moving from a studio-based model to a franchise-based model. The union disputes that characterization and argues such a framing does not remove employees’ rights to bargain over the effects of those decisions.
“Changing a title on a PowerPoint slide does not eliminate our legal right to participate in decisions about our working conditions,” the union’s statement said.
Demands: protections and rehire priority
Beyond contesting the layoffs, union representatives said they aim to negotiate measures to lessen the impact on displaced workers. Their listed demands include giving priority for internal placements at Microsoft to laid-off employees, stronger severance packages, expanded health coverage and rehire priority for future openings.
OneBGS said the goal of these demands is to make sure no worker is abandoned during the Xbox division’s restructuring.
Scale of planned job cuts
Microsoft has confirmed plans to eliminate 3,200 positions in the Xbox division by the end of the current fiscal year, in June 2027. Xbox’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, has said the reductions are part of a reorganization following underperformance in initiatives such as Xbox Game Pass and in the company’s multiplatform strategy.
Documents reported by U.S. media indicate that hundreds of employees have already been let go at studios including Bethesda Game Studios, id Software and ZeniMax Online Studios.
Broader movement among developers
The union said the protests are intended as a collective effort to prevent recurring rounds of layoffs across the games industry. OneBGS added that the demonstrations aim to send a clear message to Xbox leadership about the seriousness of workers’ concerns.
“We want to show Xbox leadership that we are serious,” the union said. “We need to stay united so the company thinks twice before making decisions like this again.”
