Back in July of 2025 it was announced that Matt Firor had left ZeniMax Online Studios after 18 years, stepping down as President after years leading the development of The Elder Scrolls Online. Just a couple days after Firor left, Project Blackbird which was Zenimax’s next MMO was announced to have been cancelled. Firor who had been silent since finally reappeared on Social Media nearly six months after he left and confirmed what many of us thought.

Ending his Silence

Firor made lengthy statements recently on his social media about leaving Zenimax Online, stating: 

Answering the second-most common question, about what led (to me) leaving ZOS, the most obvious explanation is the correct one.

Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create, and having it canceled led to my resignation. My heart and thoughts are always with the impacted team members, many of whom I had worked 20+ years with, and all of whom were the most dedicated, amazingly talented group of developers in the industry.

Firor went on to say he is still evaluating what comes next for him, though did say he has been consulting on other projects and lending his experience to startups in ‘unofficial capacity.’ He alluded to the fact he is actively investing in studios that ‘play a big part in changing the industry in the future,’ but has no plans to open his own studios. 

Project Blackbird was a more shocking cancellation last year with reports that Phil Spencer and other Xbox executives loved the game, the game would have featured augmented humans with users able to ‘sculpt’ their bodies with biomodifications and more, in what was set as a classic human vs AI story.


Are you upset we were robbed of a potential new MMO in what has been a stale genre for new releases? Head on over to the TheGamerzTheory Discord and let us know.