Employees at Bethesda really chose to blow things up when it came to protesting Xbox’s recent job action against theirs and other studios…specifically a giant rat.
Upon hearing that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma would be visiting the studio named for the city in their home state of Maryland, but now based in Rockville, the Bethesda Game Studios Union (OneBGS-CWA) erected their own version of Scabby the Rat.
NEW: CWA union members have inflated a giant rat and deployed a wall of red flags representing laid off Xbox workers outside the Bethesda office in Rockville. The protest was timed to coincide with a visit from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who is apparently at the studio today.
— Chris Kerr (@kerrblimey.bsky.social) 2026-08-11T16:22:31.509Z
In addition to the giant rat, another installation posted 800 red flags outside of the company’s campus, with each flag representing a person who has lost their job since July 2025.
“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,” Nathan Hahn, a technical producer and member of the Bethesda Game Studios Union, told Kotaku.
Hahn told Kotaku that the silent protest also continues on campus, but it is not supported by everyone at Bethesda.
Employees apparently hung posters, but were asked by management to take them down. Many responded by placing balloons through their offices instead.
Xbox’s actions have hit a number of its partner studios hard, including Ninja Theory, Double Fine, and multiple Canadian Game Awards-winning Compulsion Games.
