UPCOMING · ESTIMATEDPublished Jul 16, 2026

ZeniMax MEDIA INC. to Lay Off 379 Employees

SOURCENews reportView the filing ↗

EMPLOYEES AFFECTED

379

SHARE OF WORKFORCE

~15%

PLANNED DATE

Sep 4, 2026

CONFIRMED IN SOURCE

379 OF 2,500 EMPLOYEES

What we know

Location: Rockville, Maryland.

Department affected: Quality Assurance and senior/lead roles across ZeniMax Online Studios.

The reported date has passed without confirmation that the layoff took place. This event remains unconfirmed.

Based on news reporting.

Summary

ZeniMax Media Inc. and its ZeniMax Online Studios are part of Xbox's recent mass-layoff round that will affect a total of 379 workers across ZeniMax, with 213 cuts at ZeniMax Online Studios and 166 at ZeniMax Media Inc.'s Rockville offices. The WARN notice lists specific senior roles being cut — including the studio head, studio operations director, and studio game director — and highlights that the quality assurance division will be heavily impacted with about 89 QA staff affected. The notice sets the layoffs to occur on September 4 and indicates many impacted employees are represented by the Communications Workers of America; some employees may remain briefly to finish projects while effects bargaining proceeds. These cuts are part of a wider Xbox reduction announced by Microsoft that totals 3,200 job cuts across the division and are framed by the company as a strategic

ZeniMax MEDIA INC. cut 379 jobs in MD affecting its Quality Assurance and senior/lead roles across ZeniMax Online Studios team as of September 4, 2026.

That is roughly 15.2% of the 2,500 people ZeniMax MEDIA INC. employs.

LayoffTalk has tracked 9 layoff events at ZeniMax MEDIA INC. since April 2024, including 136 jobs documented in official WARN filings, with 8 additional events known from news reporting.