Yesterday, Xbox CEO Asha Sharmapaid a visitto Bethesda’s office in Rockville, Maryland, to catch a glimpse ofThe Elder Scrolls VI.
To mark the occasion, Communications Workers of America (CWA) union workers staged a rather memorable protest by deploying a giant inflatable rat (known as ‘Scabby’—a reference to the derogatory name for someone who might undermine the action of union members) outside the office and raising a sea of red flags to represent each person laid off by Xbox under the leadership of Sharma.
The CWA represents a vast number of Xbox employees spanning developers, artists, engineers, producers, user researchers, and the customer support staff behind some of Microsoft’s biggest franchises, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and more.
According to a statement sent to Game Developer by OneBGS-CWA union member Nathan Hahn, the protest was designed to force Sharma to reckon with the human cost of the mass layoffs that have become the norm within Microsoft and other studios across the video game industry.
In July, Sharma confirmed plans toeliminate 3,200 jobs across Microsoft’s video game divisionby the end of the current fiscal year—starting with immediate cuts at major studios including Obsidian, id Software, and ZeniMax Online Studios. It marked the fifth round of mass layoffs at Xbox in three years.
“We heard that Microsoft leadership was coming to our office this week, and decided to make our presence visible at the office to show how our developers have been impacted by these devastating layoffs,” said Hahn.
“To show our presence, we put up posters around the office, but we were immediately told by management we couldn’t have posters facing the outside of our cubes. Then, we brought in balloons so that they could see we were here, but inside our cubes this time. A separate team of laid off developers planted flags outside, one flag for each laid off dev. Each flag was a public reminder of how many people management cut from our teams—not just our colleagues and coworkers, but our friends at the end of the day.
“We’re mobilizing 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. 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.”
The protest came just weeks after CWA members in the United States and Canada staged numerous ‘Save Our Devs’ rallies outside Xbox offices in both countries. More rallies are set to be held on August 18, 2026, outside Xbox studios in Irvine, Austin, Dallas, Seattle, Albany, Rockville, Hunt Valley, Montreal, and Minneapolis.
CWA labor unions in Canada and the United States have alsotaken legal action against Microsoftfor allegedly mishandling its latest round of job cuts. In July, CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth told Game Developer the company “unlawfully fired people without giving notice to or discussing it with the union.”
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