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’

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.








