Matt Firor, the veteran developer who founded Zenimax Online Studio in 2007 and helped shepherd The Elder Scrolls Online into a top-tier MMORPG, has publicly broken his silence about the cancellation that led to his departure from Microsoft last summer. The decision to halt an as-yet-unannounced online multiplayer project coincided with a wave of layoffs across Microsoft’s game studios, and Firor exited the company amid the broader upheaval surrounding Xbox’s portfolio. The project, internally known as Blackbird, was described in industry reporting as an ambitious attempt to blend loot-driven shooter mechanics with the structure of an MMO.
“Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create, and having it canceled led to my resignation,” Firor wrote in a January 1 post on LinkedIn which he later shared on Bluesky. “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.” The post itself does not mention Microsoft directly, but the context makes clear the connection for many observers.
Some of Firor’s former colleagues went on to form Sackbird Studios to pursue their own multiplayer project, seeking internal funding and full creative control to craft experiences free from corporate compromises. Sackbird’s founders signaled a shift toward autonomy, signaling the appetite among veteran developers for projects untethered from large corporate roadmaps.
Bloomberg’s reporting framed Blackbird as an ambitious loot shooter that fused the loot-driven loop of Destiny with Blade Runner-inspired aesthetics, while retaining the structure and questing of an MMO. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Gaming, was reportedly shown a build of the game in March and was said to have loved what he saw, a detail that has amplified questions about why the project was ultimately canceled. The broader backdrop for these moves includes internal goals at Xbox Game Studios to reach a 30-percent profit margin, alongside directives to ensure titles are playable for free on Game Pass.
Taken together, Firor’s public remarks and the subsequent industry re-casting of Blackbird illustrate the tensions that can arise when high-concept multiplayer ambitions collide with corporate strategy and portfolio management. The coverage surrounding Firor’s comments underscores how individual careers and studio lineages can be reshaped—sometimes abruptly—by the decisions of a broader corporate structure.