The Elder Scrolls Online Dev's Unannounced MMO Was Doing Well and Even Scaling Up as Xbox Cancelation Blindsided Staff, Sources Say

Yesterday, amid the layoffs of astir 9,100 unit astatine Microsoft including thousands from its Xbox Gaming Divisions, we learned that 1 of the impacted projects was an unannounced MMO from ZeniMax Online Studios.

Now, IGN has learned that the full squad for the MMO, codenamed "Blackbird," has been cut, amid layoffs that impacted respective 100 individuals crossed the Cockeysville, MD-based ZeniMax Online Studios.

Speaking to aggregate sources acquainted with the project, IGN has learned that Blackbird was to beryllium a new, sci-fi IP. Though it had been successful improvement since 2018, the magnitude of clip it was taking to marque the crippled was expected, arsenic ZeniMax was gathering an wholly caller crippled motor for it.

In the past year, sources archer IGN that pre-production was going well, and the squad was actively ramping up successful the anticipation of moving into afloat accumulation soon. Xbox had approved the scaling up, and immoderate individuals were being moved onto the task from different teams specified arsenic The Elder Scrolls Online, arsenic good arsenic immoderate radical absorbed from the shuttering past twelvemonth of Arkane Austin.

One root recalled being told past twelvemonth by caput of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty successful a gathering that Xbox's closures of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games were done for the intent of justifying accrued headcount for different crippled studios that needed it, including ZeniMax Online Studios.

But now, each idiosyncratic moving connected Blackbird is gone. The task has been cancelled, and ZeniMax Online Studios caput Matt Firor has stepped down. Sources IGN spoke to said that those wrong ZeniMax lone knew that layoffs were coming owed to ongoing quality reports starring up to yesterday, but adjacent contiguous are inactive successful the acheronian arsenic to however wide the cuts really are. They besides confirmed reports that a fig of people's Slack entree was deactivated earlier they were told by HR that they were impacted, resulting successful disorder and distress.

Microsoft's wide layoffs person devastated its games division, and our knowing of the interaction is inactive evolving. IGN was told that Candy Crush developer King was deed hard, and we learned yesterday that Perfect Dark has been canceled and The Initiative is nary more. Meanwhile, Everwild has been canceled astatine Rare and seasoned Rare decorator Gregg Mayles is leaving the company, and Blizzard's Warcraft Rumble is winding down. Brenda and John Romero besides announced this greeting that Xbox has pulled backing from their project, leaving its aboriginal uncertain. A fig of different games and teams are rumored to beryllium impacted arsenic well, though the afloat scope is inactive unknown.

This comes connected the heels of Microsoft's laying disconnected 1,900 unit successful January 2024, closing Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks months later, laying disconnected 650 much individuals successful gaming the pursuing September, and past successful May of this twelvemonth Microsoft laying disconnected an further 6,000 people.

Image credit: zenimaxonline.com.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. You tin find her posting connected BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].