Matt Firor Resigns After Microsoft Cancels Project Blackbird

Matt Firor, founder and former studio head of ZeniMax Online Studios, resigned in 2025 following Microsoft's cancellation of Project Blackbird, a sci-fi massively multiplayer online game that had been in development since 2018 at the Elder Scrolls Online developer.

The project, internally regarded as promising and playable, featured players as bioenhanced operatives called Revenants navigating the underworld of Soteria, a tidally locked planet with extreme biomes. Developers aimed to build custom technology early to frontload costs, enabling easier long-term maintenance and updates for a live-service title. Firor, who conceived the concept and world design, described it in a recent MinnMax interview as a game he had waited his entire career to create.

Cancellation came amid broader layoffs and cost-cutting at Microsoft's gaming division after its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Firor attributed the decision to financial pressures, noting the project's large budget appeared as a risky bet on spreadsheets. "We're a number on a ledger, and if that number is large, it is ripe for analysis," he said. "Over the years we always explained why we were frontloading a lot...