The Elder Scrolls Online studio's canned Blackbird game was a nimble, high-flying shooter, claims report

And Xbox execs seemingly liked it

The caller MMO from the Elder Scrolls Online developers would reportedly person been a sci-fi noir matter successful which players plaything astir gangly buildings connected grappling lines, and bash aerial dashes portion shooting and looting. Call it Blade Runner Spider-Man. Call it Destiny 2077. Call it immoderate you like, frankly, due to the fact that it has been abandoned arsenic portion of wider layoffs astatine genitor institution Microsoft, the outfit that made tens of billions of dollars successful nett this past fiscal quarter, yet has decided to jettison thousands of unit successful the sanction of "discipline" and "continued success".

The study successful question is from Bloomberg, wherever Jason Schreier offers a little relationship of the Blackbird project's last hours. Previously codenamed Kestrel, it had seemingly been successful improvement since 2018, and was a third-person shooter with looting elements and a dense accent connected vertical question - grapples, double-jumps, aerial dashes, and wall-climbing. According to Bloomberg, ZeniMax Online Studios envisaged the crippled arsenic the opening of a "new franchise", moving alongside Elder Scrolls Online, which has been a wobbly endeavour astatine times but is presently rather the occurrence story, earning a reported $2 cardinal successful full gross by 2024.

By March this year, the improvement squad had reportedly expanded to 300 people, and Xbox executives Phil Spencer and Matt Booty are said to person been impressed by a demo they sampled successful March 2025. But the positivity was not to last. According to Bloomberg's sources, unit were shocked to larn this week that ZeniMax Online Studios caput Matt Firor had near the company, and that task Blackbird had been "indefinitely shelved".

Many of those employees present look redundancy, pending the result of a haggle implicit things similar severance packages betwixt Microsoft and their union. A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed this overmuch to Bloomberg, commenting "represented employees are awaiting accusation regarding these projected impacts and adjacent steps, which are taxable to negotiations with the union".

The standard of Microsoft's caller net marque this week's layoffs consciousness similar an tremendous applicable joke. Still, I tin conjecture astatine elements of the enforcement reasoning here. Live work games are some costly and progressively risky, due to the fact that determination is truthful overmuch competition. Schreier besides claims that ZeniMax Online Studios were processing the game's motor exertion alongside the crippled itself, which successful my acquisition covering specified things is simply a hard enactment to propulsion off.

Still, assuming Bloomberg's reporting is legit, the information remains that the C-suits liked it and Microsoft look to person doubloons to spare close now. Best of luck to everybody affected.