Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s internal playthrough of The Elder Scrolls 6 was disrupted by a giant inflatable rat, as Bethesda union protests layoffs

An early internal preview of The Elder Scrolls 6 by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was met by a giant inflatable rat, looming over the Bethesda offices in Rockville, Maryland.

The rat was placed in proximity to the office by the CWA video game union, alongside a wall of small red flags planted into the ground. These flags were intended to represent each laid off employee impacted by the substantial job cuts made by Microsoft last month. According to a WARN notice last month, 166 developers from Bethesda’s Rockville office were let go.

This protest marks an ongoing effort by the CWA Union to protest the ongoing “Xbox Reset” occurring at the company. Last month, “Save our Devs” rallies took place outside multiple Xbox-owned offices including Bethesda’s Rockville office, and more are planned for later this month too.

OneBGS-CWA member Nathan Hahn gave the following statement to Game Developer:

“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.

“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 mobilising 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.”

As for Sharma, she made no official comment responding to the giant rat. Instead, she shared her opinion on The Elder Scrolls VI on X, writing: “Live playthrough of The Elder Scrolls VI: ******** this morning. The scale and grandeur are incredible. The story is even greater.” The official Bethesda Game Studios account responded, posting: “It was great being able to show you ********. Thank you for the kind words and a wonderful visit.”

There is every chance this tweet about The Elder Scrolls 6 – Xbox’s most anticipated game by a large margin – is an attempt at ‘key-jangling’ distraction from the protests, and indeed Xbox’s continued wider problems. This CWA employee protest comes as Xbox as a business is under significant strain. Of its 3,200 announced layoffs last month, 1,600 were to be conducted throughout the rest of 2026, meaning they still loom over current Xbox employees. We recently saw contractors were let go from Xbox Game Studios following the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved, though where Xbox will cut next remains unclear.

A current, veteran id Software employee meanwhile slammed the platform holder last week, saying “they don’t understand art” and claiming, contrary to the public statements of the studio’s leadership, that it’s now “impossible” to make games like Doom (2016) thanks to the depth of cuts at the developer.

At the same time, Xbox remains on the BDS boycott list for Microsoft’s involvement with the Israeli military during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As of writing, it remains on that list, prompting many to stop supporting the company’s gaming arm.