CWA Canada will demand laid-off Microsoft-BGS Montreal workers are treated fairly

MONTREAL (July 6, 2026) – CWA Canada, the union representing Montreal’s Bethesda Game Studio (BGS) workers, says it will do everything possible to help the dozen workers laid off there today.

The union will be pushing Microsoft, which owns BGS and employs about 120 video game workers in Montreal, to find alternate work, assist with job searches, and pay better severance appropriate to years, training and skillset.

The union was very disappointed to hear that Microsoft is laying of hundreds of video game workers in North America. The cuts are part of what the company calls a global “reset,” as Microsoft downsizes Xbox and plans to sell some smaller studios acquired in recent years.

The Montreal workers, who work on highly successful game franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, among others, were shocked. They had no advance notice, no idea why or how they were targeted, and they worry about the negative impact on the games they work on.

“These workers put their hearts and souls into creating best-selling video games people around the world loved,” CWA Canada President Carmel Smyth said.

“We hope their talent and dedication to excellence is recognized and respected by one of the world’s richest employers. While this approach might be old news in the United States, this is not the kind of high-road approach we expect in Canada from a global company with unbelievably deep pockets like Microsoft.”

The laid-off workers have been told to stay home. They will be paid for the next two months while details are being worked out with the union. 

Microsoft says there will be more cuts later this year. Most Xbox workers are in the United States and Europe.

CWA Canada is the country’s only all-media union, representing 6,000 workers, including at the CBC, The Canadian Press, and newspapers, tech, digital media, and other companies coast to coast.