Elder Scrolls Online Studio Loses Second Leader In A Year Following Layoffs

Published Jul 16, 2026, 2:19 PM EDT As Xbox rolls out around 1,600 layoffs - with a further 1,600 to come later in the year - it has been trying to sell this as a big reset, all in aid of getting the surviving studios to focus on major IPs. However, with how hard studios like ZeniMax, Bethesda, and id Software are being hit, it's unclear how Xbox intends to reach that goal. Now, we're getting a better idea of how ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer of The Elder Scrolls Online, has been impacted. As a result of these layoffs, there's been a change of leadership - just a year after Xbox was responsible for another change of leadership at the studio. Head Of ZeniMax Online Studios Laid Off After A Year In The Job As reported by Game File, the widespread layoffs across ZeniMax are now confirmed to include the most recent studio head, Joseph Burba. This is despite Burba only being in the job for about a year, taking over from the previous head, Matt Firor, in July 2025. In fact, Burba left because of a previous round of layoffs at Xbox. While he kept his job, he went on to leave and admitted that he left because of Xbox's decision to cancel ZeniMax's new MMO, only known as Project Blackbird, alongside rolling out layoffs. He was the founder of ZeniMax Online Studios, so this would have been a huge loss for the team, and not long after having its new game cancelled. Now, the team is being put through this again. As per Game File, ZeniMax Online Studios is now being led by Josh Henderson and Nick Giacomini. I spoke with Giacomini at Gamescom last year, although this was alongside Rich Lambert, who was just laid off. Here, both Giacomini and Lambert expressed their desire to keep The Elder Scrolls Online going for years to come. In fact, they told me that Burba said ESO should be a "30-year MMO" when he took over as studio head. Going forward, the ESO team has admitted that the game is getting a "revised roadmap", so we can expect updates to be smaller, and perhaps fewer and further between. At the very least, they've shut down fears that ESO is going into maintenance mode, so it is still being worked on. ZeniMax Online Studios