Even though ZeniMax’s Destiny-style MMO shooter was a major hit in early internal showings, that success wasn’t enough to save the project from cancellation.

Microsoft has begun another round of layoffs, this time affecting 9,000 employees — on top of more than 12,000 cut over the past two years. These cuts have resulted in studio closures and canceled titles, including the unannounced MMO known internally as Blackbird, which was in development at ZeniMax. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, development on Blackbird began in 2018. The project was described as a Destiny-inspired third-person sci-fi noir shooter MMO, being developed by a 300-person team. Gameplay reportedly focused heavily on verticality and acrobatics, featuring tools like grappling hooks, wall climbing, and midair dashing.

Blackbird apparently wowed Xbox executives. Sources familiar with the project said Phil Spencer, Xbox chief, was so taken with a March internal demo that Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, had to physically take the controller out of his hands to keep him from delaying a meeting. Everything seemed on track, with a projected release window of 2028. But then, this past Wednesday, developers logged into Slack only to find that the accounts of the executive producer and creative director had been deleted. A morning meeting followed, where the team was informed that Blackbird had been shelved indefinitely. Afterward, developers lost their Slack access entirely, leaving them in a kind of employment limbo while Microsoft negotiates severance terms with ZeniMax’s recently formed union.

For a promising title coming from a seasoned MMO studio, Blackbird’s cancellation is discouraging — especially while Microsoft and Xbox continue to boast about record success. In a memo sent to staff when the layoffs were announced, Phil Spencer claimed that Xbox’s gaming division had more players, games, and playtime than ever before. In Microsoft’s 2024 annual report, CEO Satya Nadella said the company had achieved record operational profits of $109 billion — a 24% year-over-year increase.

Source: PCGamer, Bloomberg