Former Elder Scrolls Online chief confirms Microsoft’s 2025 bloodbath drove his departure from ZeniMax: ‘Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create’

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Matt Firor, who previously led the development of The Elder Scrolls Online, has explained why he’s leaving ZeniMax Online Studios in July 2025 after two decades with the company. He says the reason is Microsoft’s recent wave of layoffs.

On July 2, 2025, Microsoft cut approximately 9,000 jobs, with a significant portion of the layoffs impacting its Xbox division. The cuts were particularly jarring given comments from Xbox head Phil Spencer, who stated the company’s gaming business was performing well. Several projects were also canceled as a result, including the planned reboot of Perfect Dark (along with the studio developing it), Rare’s Everwild game, and a new online multiplayer game, codenamed Blackbird, that was in development at ZeniMax.

Happy New Year! I haven’t posted much lately – it’s been about six months – but I shared an update on LinkedIn yesterday. I’m sharing it here too, so everyone sees it.

— @thefiror.bsky.social (@thefiror.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T16:47:19.324Z

When Blackbird was shut down, it really hit Rob Firor hard. He’s a legend in the gaming world – he co-founded Mythic Entertainment way back in ’95 – and it led him to leave the studio he’d helped build back in 2007. As a long-time fan of his work, it was sad to see him step away like that.

In a LinkedIn post, Firor explained that the cancellation of Project Blackbird, a game he’d dreamed of making throughout his career, led to his decision to leave the company. He expressed deep concern for the team affected by the cancellation, noting that he’d worked with many of them for over 20 years and considered them the most skilled and dedicated developers in the industry.

Firor clarified that he isn’t actively working on any new projects started by ex-ZeniMax staff, like Sackbird Studios – which launched in October 2025 with developers formerly from Elder Scrolls Online and Project Blackbird. He explained that while he’s offering casual advice to some of them, he isn’t taking a leadership role. He trusts their current leaders and is excited to see what they create.

So, I’ve been keeping busy after my last project, helping out smaller teams and investing in some startups. But honestly, I haven’t really started thinking about building my own game studio yet – it’s still just an idea at this point.

Regarding The Elder Scrolls Online, ZeniMax’s new leader, Jo Burba, stated in August 2025 that the game is secure and will continue to be developed. However, employee morale appears to be low following recent layoffs. Senior QA tester Autumn Mitchell described the company after the cuts as a severely damaged workforce, claiming Microsoft eliminated the positive culture and teamwork that existed.

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2026-01-02 19:47