Xbox CEO Asha Sharma visited Bethesda to see an Elder Scrolls 6 playthrough. Union members marked the occasion with Scabby, a giant inflatable protest rat, and 800 red flags outside the office, one for every Microsoft game worker laid off since July 2025.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma came to Bethesda‘s Rockville, Maryland office on August 11 for a look at The Elder Scrolls 6. Waiting outside was a giant inflatable rat.
The rat is named Scabby, and he’s a fixture at union demonstrations across the US. Members of the Communications Workers of America and the Bethesda Game Studios Union brought him out to greet Microsoft leadership.
They didn’t stop at the rat.
800 flags, one per job
The union planted 800 red flags in the grass outside the building.
Each one represented a game worker laid off by Microsoft since July 2025. Microsoft cut about 1,600 Xbox jobs last month, with a further 1,600 reportedly expected across the rest of the year.
“We refuse to let executives forget what game studios are actually made of: their workers,” the union posted, calling the flags a welcome gift.
Inside, the protest ran quieter. Technical producer Nathan Hahn said staff put up posters at their desks, and when management told them the posters couldn’t face outward, they switched to balloons.
The split screen
While the demonstration ran outside, Sharma posted about the game she’d just been shown.
She described The Elder Scrolls 6‘s “scale and grandeur” as incredible and said the story was better still, from what sounds like a live playthrough rather than hands-on time. She also appeared to tease the game’s subtitle.
That’s the whole picture in one afternoon: an executive posting about a beloved franchise’s future, and outside the window, several hundred flags marking the people who won’t be there to finish it.
Why it landed
The inflatable rat is an attention-getting device, and it worked exactly as designed.
Sharma’s visit was meant to generate Elder Scrolls 6 headlines. Instead, most of the coverage carried the layoffs alongside the game, which is precisely what the union wanted. Hahn framed the point beyond Bethesda, saying the goal is to push back on layoffs industry-wide, not only at Microsoft.
That’s the tension a demonstration like this exposes. The Elder Scrolls 6 is one of the most anticipated games in years, and the people building it just watched roughly 1,600 colleagues lose their jobs, with more cuts expected before the year ends. Sharma got her playthrough. The workers made sure she got the flags too.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Kotaku (August 2026), verified for the Rockville protest, Scabby the inflatable rat, the 800 red flags representing workers laid off since July 2025, the posters-then-balloons detail inside the office, and Nathan Hahn’s statements
Video Games Chronicle (August 2026), verified for the CWA and OneBGS involvement, Chris Kerr’s on-the-ground reporting, Sharma’s visit timing, and Hahn’s account of management blocking outward-facing posters
GamesRadar+ (August 2026), verified for the union’s “what game studios are actually made of” statement, the flags honoring laid-off Microsoft workers, and Hahn’s industry-wide framing
Pure Xbox and The Gamer (August 2026), verified for Sharma’s “scale and grandeur are incredible” post, the live-playthrough detail, the 1,600 July layoffs, and the further 1,600 expected this year