Elder Scrolls Online: Zenimax lets go 300, sign of F2P to come?

Barely two months after launch, some unfortunate stories are appearing concerning Elder Scrolls Online and its developer, Zenimax Studios, most specifically the Galway, Ireland location, which is seen as the main customer service office for ESO.

The last two months saw 300 employees being let go of the company. 200 of those had to leave after only three weeks at the company, one week of training included. One former employee told the Connacht Sentinel that “In April, the company said it wanted 200 more workers. They went through a week of training, worked for two weeks and were let go. These would have been people taken in on two to six-week contracts.”

This employee was hired in March on six month contracts with around 200 other workers, but has now been let go. He added that “Four weeks ago, another 50 were let go, and over the last few days, another 20 or 30.”

He's also not pleased with the way the layoffs went: “It’s a disgrace how workers were treated. If they showed up at 10.30pm for the night shift, they were being told to go home at 11pm, that their jobs were gone.”

While it's a common practice to see studios reduce their staff after a game has launched, this situation seems to only affect the customer support service which could indicate that Elder Scrolls Online is performing below expectations.

Do you think this could be the first indication that Elder Scrolls Online will turn free-to-play in a year or even less?