Lay offs at Zenimax Online won't affect The Elder Scrolls Online

A round of lay offs have occurred at Zenimax Online Studios, but Bethesda says it won't affect continued development of The Elder Scrolls Online.

Speaking with Joystiq, Bethesda VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines said lay offs are common with large-scale MMOs post release.

"As is the norm for games of this type, we had ramped up a large workforce to develop a game of vast scale, and ramped up our customer service to handle the expected questions and community needs of The Elder Scrolls Online at launch," said Hines. "Now that we are nearly six months post launch, we have a thriving online community in a game that runs smoothly."

The studio still has a large work force, meaning customer service, community management and development will continue as normal.

"We remain strongly committed to The Elder Scrolls Online, and continue to invest heavily to develop new content for PC players, prepare the game for its console launch, and handle our planned expansion into important international territories," Hines added.

"As for customer service, we continue to operate large support centers in Hunt Valley, MD and Galway, Ireland."

Update 4 to The Elder Scrolls Online is in the works and will take players into the Upper Craglorn region.