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.

The studio is currently has ten developers as part of its team, which has been described as being an experienced team that has a focus on ensuring high quality of its projects. Serving as the CEO of the studio is Lee Ridout, while COO duties have been taken up by David Worley.

“After years in AAA, we wanted the freedom to take smart risks without waiting for a greenlight or chasing quarterly targets,” said Worley in the studio’s official founding announcement. “We’re fully employee-owned and funded, which means we only answer to people who are passionate about games.”

The announcement has also noted that Sackbird Studios was founded on the disappointment faced by the developers after the cancellation of Project Blackbird. To that end, the studio’s leadership aims to avoid the pitfalls they have experienced throughout their time in the gaming industry, including their tenure at ZeniMax Online Studios. It is also worth noting that, along with Project Blackbird, the developers have also previously worked on The Elder Scrolls Online.

“We’re grateful for our time at ZeniMax Online Studios; it shaped us as developers and as people,” said Ridout in a statement. “When I learned that Blackbird was being cancelled and a lot of people were losing their jobs, it lit a fire. We realized the best way to protect our craft—and our team—was to create a studio where creative independence isn’t negotiable.”

While it hasn’t provided any details, Sackbird Studios has confirmed that it has already started working on a new project for PC and consoles. Considering the previous works of the developers working at the studio, however, this project will likely be a new take on the RPG genre.

Project Blackbird was one of many in-development projects at various studios under Microsoft to have been cancelled as part of the company laying off more than 9,000 of its employees. A report from back in July indicated that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer had played an early build of Project Blackbird, and even enjoyed it. The report went as far as to say that Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty had to physically pull the controller away from Spencer.

According to a source, the cancellation of Project Blackbird came as quite a shock to developers because early builds had “blown away executives at Xbox just a few months ago.” The source also noted that the build was quite recent, having been made back in March.

Blackbird was expected to be a multiplayer-centric game that would feature shooting with loot elements and an emphasis on co-op gameplay. Comparisons from previous reports had been drawn with Bungie’s Destiny.