Project Blackbird’s Cancellation Led to Elder Scrolls Online Studio President’s Departure

For all the excitement about Xbox’s upcoming releases, it’s hard to forget the chaos of last Summer when several key projects, including Rare’s Everwild and The Initiative’s Perfect Dark were cancelled. That’s not even getting into all the layoffs.

Project Blackbird is another high-profile cancellation, even if it was never officially revealed. Six months later, former ZeniMax Online Studios president Matt Firor has finally confirmed that this led to his sudden departure from the company.

“The most obvious explanation is the correct one,” Firor said on LinkedIn (with the statement shared on Bluesky). “Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create, and having it cancelled led to my resignation. My heart and thoughts are always with the impacted team members, many of whom I had worked 20+ years with, and all of whom were the most dedicated, amazingly talented group of developers in the industry.”

As a new sci-fi IP separate from The Elder Scrolls Online, Blackbird was allegedly in development since 2018 and featured a new engine. Though it was still in pre-production, full development was expected to begin soon enough. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and then-Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty even reportedly enjoyed it, but it sadly wasn’t meant to be.

Some of the developers who worked on Blackbird have since founded the “fully employee-owned and funded” Sackbird Studios, which is currently working on a new project. Firor isn’t “directly involved” but has been “advising some of them informally.” And while he still hasn’t quite figured out what’s next, much less “seriously contemplated spinning up a new development studio,” there have been “investments in small teams that I know will play a big part in changing the industry in the future.”

In the meantime, Firor paid his respects to The Elder Scrolls Online team and players, the latter of which he now comprises.