This was also a victim of Microsoft’s major layoffs in July. They started their fiscal year with these layoffs because their fiscal year begins in July instead of April.

Nearly six months ago, Microsoft carried out significant layoffs affecting employees at Xbox Studios, including King and ZeniMax. Several games were canceled as a result, including Everwild at Rare, the Perfect Dark reboot at the now-closed The Initiative, and the MMO Project Blackbird at ZeniMax. At the time, we didn’t hear much about Project Blackbird other than that it had been in development since 2018. Now, however, a new leak gives us our first glimpse of what might have been if Project Blackbird hadn’t been canceled. The footage was leaked on social media by the usually reliable insider eXtas1s and confirmed by Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming.

The two-minute clip depicts a futuristic, cyberpunk-like world filled with neon lights. Although the gameplay is not visible, some character designs can be seen, including a few heavily armored soldiers. The footage shows significant verticality, from the middle of the track to the bottom and back up, with each segment filled with different elements. Insider Gaming also noted that the game was supposed to be released in 2028. The reason for the cancellation remains unclear, especially since Microsoft staff were reportedly impressed by it.

Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, loved the game so much that, during a presentation in March, Matt Booty (the head of Xbox Game Studios) had to take the controller out of his hands because they were late for a meeting. Rumor has it that one reason for Blackbird’s cancellation was to free up resources for strategic investments in Fallout. Soon after, ZeniMax employees criticized Xbox and Microsoft management for their treatment of those laid off. In October, many of those laid off founded their own studio, Sackbird, a self-funded venture. Recently, founder Matt Firor revealed that his sudden resignation was largely due to the cancellation of Blackbird.

While the recordings don’t reveal much, at least we got to see the vision that supposedly excited Microsoft so much.

Source: TheGamer

👀🔥 LEAK ⚡️

Nuevo metraje de “Project Blackbird”, el MMO de Zenimax Online cancelado hace meses por Xbox.

Qué ganas le tenía 🥺. pic.twitter.com/4Nz1G22l2F

— eXtas1s 🎮 Noticias & Rumores (@eXtas1stv) January 18, 2026