After Xbox’s brutal cuts, many assumed The Elder Scrolls Online would inevitably feel the fallout – but Zenimax Online says that narrative is simply wrong. Executive producer Susan Kath insists the MMO’s pivot to a seasonal structure has nothing to do with layoffs or budget tightening.
If you’re a The Elder Scrolls fan, you probably already knew this – and if you’re not, we broke it down in full detail over at 3DJuegos two weeks ago: Bethesda and Zenimax Online’s long-running MMO will ditch its big yearly expansions starting in 2026. Instead, the game is moving toward smaller, more compact Seasons, and yes, even a “battle pass” style system is expected to be part of the package. For a title that has been running for more than a decade, this is a massive shift, and it’s easy to see why players immediately linked it to Xbox’s budget cuts and restructuring. But according to Zenimax, the truth is far less dramatic: the seasonal model wasn’t born out of crisis, it’s been in the pipeline for a long time.
Susan Kath, executive producer of TESO, says the decision to transition into Seasons – with tighter content drops, smaller scope, and room for experimentation – is completely separate from what happened at Zenimax Online on the corporate side. “Seasons is not at all a response to that,” she told Rock, Paper, Shotgun. In fact, she explained that the plan was locked in at least 12 to 14 months in advance, well before any cuts were announced, and the intention from the start was to give players “greater choice and variety” in the MMO’s offerings.
Zenimax Online Lost Its First Original Game in 12 Years
That said, players’ suspicions didn’t come out of nowhere. Back in July 2025, Xbox confirmed the cancellation of Project Blackbird, which would have been Zenimax Online’s first brand-new game in 12 years. The announcement also came alongside layoffs, though the company never disclosed how many people were affected. The decision sent shockwaves through the studio, and it even led to Matt Firor – the longtime lead developer of The Elder Scrolls Online – leaving the company after his “dream project” was scrapped.
Still, Zenimax is trying to frame the situation as an unexpected advantage for ESO’s future. With Blackbird gone, the entire studio can now focus fully on the MMO, rather than splitting resources across multiple productions. According to Kath, that shift has effectively increased the manpower available for ESO, since teams are no longer stretched between two products. “In some sections, we actually increased the number of people available because they were no longer managing two products, just one,” she said.
With that in mind, the first season under the new structure, Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk, will run from April 2 through July 8, and promises “a new kind of gameplay experience” intended to set the foundation for everything that follows. The streamlined model aims to deliver fresh content on a more consistent schedule, instead of forcing players to wait months and months for the next huge annual expansion.
Source: 3djuegos
