The Elder Scrolls 6 has been in development for years, and Bethesda is reportedly under increasing pressure to accelerate production. That makes the studio’s recent layoffs particularly controversial, with veteran developer Kurt Kuhlmann arguing that cutting experienced staff while trying to finish the highly anticipated RPG could ultimately make development slower and more difficult.
Kuhlmann spent more than two decades at Bethesda as a lore expert, designer and world builder, contributing to major games including The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Speaking to FRVR, he criticized the decision to remove veteran developers from a project that Bethesda is still actively developing.
Former Bethesda Dev Questions Why Elder Scrolls 6 Veterans Were Cut
Kuhlmann’s main concern is that the layoffs appear to have affected experienced developers rather than the management structure Xbox previously identified as an area that needed streamlining. He specifically rejected the explanation surrounding Microsoft’s reference to “14 layers of management.”
“They weren’t laying off the people managing things,”
Kuhlmann said.
“They were laying off people that were creating the game.”
According to Kuhlmann, some of those affected were among Bethesda’s most experienced employees. The layoffs included longtime developers such as artist Christiane Meister, who spent 27 years at Bethesda and worked on games including Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout 4, while concept artist Ray Lederer was also let go after nearly 18 years at the studio.
For Kuhlmann, removing people with that level of institutional knowledge is especially difficult to understand when The Elder Scrolls 6 is supposedly being pushed toward faster development.
“I can’t say I understand it, even from a pure just business money point of view,”
he said.
“If you want the money from [The Elder Scrolls 6], why would you fire people who are working on that and are going to make it happen, and make it better, and get it done faster?”
The former developer also warned that layoffs can damage morale and disrupt production, particularly at a studio where many employees have spent years learning Bethesda’s technology and development processes. He argued that experienced teams possess knowledge that cannot easily be replaced by bringing in new employees.
The comments come as Xbox leadership has reportedly been seeking faster development of major Bethesda franchises. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has also said she saw a “live playthrough” of The Elder Scrolls 6 in August, although Bethesda has still not announced a release date.
The Elder Scrolls 6 was first announced in 2018, but Bethesda has revealed very little about the RPG since then. With the game now facing renewed scrutiny over its lengthy development and recent staff reductions, Kuhlmann’s criticism highlights a central concern for fans: whether cutting experienced developers will actually help Bethesda deliver the long-awaited sequel sooner.
