- Bethesda senior character artist Christiane Meister has been let go as part of Xbox’s restructuring.
- Master designed SkyrimThe Khajiit and Argonian races
- Kevin LaChapelle, one of the main developers behind the Xbox backwards compatibility initiative, has also been fired.
As part of the largest Xbox restructuring strategy we’ve ever seen, thousands of employees have been laid off, including two industry veterans who worked at Microsoft and Bethesda for decades.
As PC Gamer reports, Christiane Meister, a senior character artist who worked at Bethesda for 27 years on games like Morrowind and SkyrimHe was laid off and is currently looking for work.
Writing on LinkedIn, Meister said: “I was recently laid off from Bethesda Game Studios and find myself in the novel position of looking for a job. I thought I would stay there forever because I loved making those games. Life had other plans, as it often does.”
As Meister explained in a separate update on her page, she was “in charge of designing, creating, and managing character art assets throughout.” He ancient scrolls projects, from Morrowind to our latest title, Skyrim“.
“This included drawing concepts and seeing the artwork through to the final stage to include the item in the game, as well as handing off concepts to other artists in the character pool. I also oversaw outsourced assets from design to final game models,” Meister said.
The veteran developer was responsible for designing the visual identities of the series’ Khajiit and Argonian humanoid races, as well as some radioactive dust creatures and horses in Forgot and Skyrim.
He also worked on the user interface, title design and marketing materials early in his career at Bethesda, the iconic armor associated with Skyrim and new armor sets and key art for The Elder Scrolls: Swords.
Meister later moved on to work with creatures in star field “And I had a great time balancing the extraterrestrial while relating it to the recognizable fauna that exists here on Earth.”
He adds that he also worked on “The last game in the Elder Scrolls series,” which could mean The ancient scrolls 6where he oversaw “an important aspect of the game in addition to continuing to create realistic creatures.”
“I hope people can see them,” he said.
Another industry veteran, Kevin LaChapelle, one of the main developers behind the Xbox backwards compatibility initiative, was also fired.
On LinkedIn (via VGC), LaChapelle said, “I’m adding my name to the list of people who were fired today at Xbox,” after working for Microsoft for 37 years.
“I’ve worked in many different parts of the company and I will say that my fondest memories are leading the team of very talented engineers who created the Xbox backwards compatibility program,” he said.
“Sitting in the auditorium when Phil [Spencer] announced that the show at E3 2015 was incredible. The public reaction was incredible. I followed that and led the team that built our Cloud Gaming product. I firmly believe that all entertainment will eventually be transmitted to you wherever you are. “I look forward to seeing how Xbox evolves in the future and wish the team nothing but success.”
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that 1,600 jobs were cut immediately and another 1,600 will be cut before the end of the current financial year.
The company has also laid off four studios, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions, which are returning to independence, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are looking for new owners.
Obsidian Entertainment is also working on a new radioactive dust game run by Fallout: New Vegas Lead designer and project manager Joshua Sawyer, in collaboration with Bethesda, after scrapping plans for a Declared continuation amid Xbox’s restructuring strategy.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
The best game consoles.
