ZeniMax Online Studios is losing its entire senior leadership team following Microsoft’s latest restructuring measures, with the studio director and several key The Elder Scrolls Online executives all departing. A new management group will gradually assume control, although the developer insists that support for the MMO and work on future updates will continue.
The consequences of Xbox’s ongoing restructuring are still unfolding inside ZeniMax. Microsoft’s cost-cutting measures had already eliminated more than 200 positions at ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer responsible for The Elder Scrolls Online, but the changes are now reaching the highest levels of the company. Studio director Joe Burba and three other senior executives are leaving their roles, while a replacement leadership structure will be introduced over the coming months.
Before the full extent of the decision became public, Microsoft had only acknowledged that 379 jobs were being removed from ZeniMax’s Maryland operations, with more than 200 of those cuts affecting ZeniMax Online Studios. The company did not initially disclose that the studio director position was included among the eliminated roles. It later confirmed that Burba held that title and revealed that the studio would undergo a broader change in management.
Game File reports that the departures also include Susan Kath, executive producer of The Elder Scrolls Online; Rich Lambert, the game’s creative director; and production director Ala Diaz. Burba had spent 14 years at ZeniMax Online Studios and was elevated to studio director in July 2025. Official records submitted by ZeniMax to Maryland authorities, and subsequently obtained by the publication, show that all four positions were part of the hundreds of jobs removed in the state.
Xbox Will Transition to New Management Over the Coming Months
Xbox told Game File journalist Stephen Totilo that two longtime employees will guide the studio through its next phase. Josh Henderson, previously responsible for business operations, will become the head of ZeniMax Online Studios, while Nick Giacomini, who was promoted to director of The Elder Scrolls Online last summer, will share leadership responsibilities with him. Burba, Kath, Lambert, and Diaz will remain temporarily so they can help transfer their duties and knowledge before their departures become final.
The earlier layoffs had already raised serious questions among players about the long-term future of The Elder Scrolls Online, and replacing the studio’s entire senior leadership has renewed those concerns. ZeniMax Online Studios has nevertheless attempted to reassure its community, with a community manager stating over the weekend that the team still intends to deliver “content of enormous value” for the game. In an internal message, the outgoing executives likewise expressed “enormous confidence” in their successors and in ESO’s continued growth, noting that Update 51 and additional future content are already in production.
Source: 3DJuegos
