Xbox's Bethesda layoffs include the artist responsible for designing Skyrim's khajiit and argonians, who had been at the company for 27 years

If you've ever liked the character designs of an Elder Scrolls game, chances are you've met with some of Christiane Meister's work—as a senior character artist, Meister's been with the company for 27 years (which is only four years fewer than I, the person writing this, have been alive). She's worked on every game from Morrowind to Skyrim, and she was caught in the wave of Xbox's first round of layoffs this week.

The news came to my attention via Lady Nerevar's post on Bluesky, though I double-checked Meister's LinkedIn and, surely enough, she is currently looking for work: "I was in charge of design, creation, and management of character art assets throughout all of the Elder Scrolls projects, starting with Morrowind to our latest title, Skyrim.

"This included drawing concepts and seeing the art piece th...