End clap for Bethesda France which closes its doors, local offices would have closed their doors

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Bethesda France closes its doors

One would have thought that industry news would have stuck to the end of Embracer announced this morning, but that was without counting on the supposed closure of Bethesda France to enrich this start of the week. If nothing has yet been made official, neither on the Bethesda side nor on the Microsoft side, it would indeed seem that the French division has closed its doors for several weeks.

It all started from several reactions on social networks. First of all, some suspicions launched by Internet users, who noticed that Bethesda France's social networks had not published anything for several weeks. On Twitter, the last post dates from March 29, 2024, almost a month. A rare absence for a major publisher, which nevertheless had enough to create engagement around Amazon's recent Fallout series.

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Several former members of Bethesda France also spoke. This is the case of the moderator Scotty, which explains that a page is turning after eight years dedicated to the publisher. Our colleagues from Fallout-Generationa community dedicated to the franchise and very close to the French teams of Bethesda, explain that they have heard the news for almost two months and affirm that it is the end for the French entity.

A massive layoff?

A closure that we also confirm. Our contacts stopped responding to us for more than a month, putting on hold several exchanges and projects that we had in common. One of our sources reported anonymously that the shutdown was sudden, ” American style ”, not to say violent. A priori, the entire French division of Bethesda would be affected, from the moderation team to the Community Managers including the other communication centers. However, we cannot say that the support is part of the “ victims “. If our sources mention a global dismissal, we do not know if certain people have been reassigned, in particular via Bethesda UK which could recover certain activities of the French division. Contacted by us, Xbox has not yet responded. Microsoft has not reacted officially and we do not yet know if there will be any communication. We do not know which branch made this decision, nor if it is part of the restructuring plan announced at the start of the year.

Launched in 2012, the French division of the publisher helped create a solid identity in our region. It must be said that the Bethesda community is one of the most loyal and has allowed many of their licenses to be promoted in our region. Twelve years later, it seems that the Bethesda France adventure is definitively over. If it is unfortunately not uncommon to note that announcements of record profits are often accompanied by waves of layoffs, the situation here is all the more cruel as the surprise success of Fallout thanks to its series comes many weeks after the supposed closure of French offices. And that the teams would probably have been able to successfully ride this renewed interest; instead, we are simply treated to radio silence on social media.

Let us specify that this is the Bethesda France division, in other words the one assigned to our territory which managed communication and local events. There is no question of closing the publisher or stopping their games and licenses. We provide our full support to former employees who are impacted by this change.

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