The sudden cancellation of ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS) MMORPG codenamed Project Blackbird has left the gaming world stunned, especially following the departure of Matt Firor, the founder and head of the studio. This decision was a shock to the development team, many of whom had spent years building the ambitious project. Hundreds of employees, including Alex Tardif, the Lead Graphics Programmer, were affected by the layoffs.
Tardif, who had been with ZOS for over a decade, reflected on the unfortunate turn of events in a LinkedIn post, revealing some behind-the-scenes thoughts about the project and its direction.
Tardif shared that the game was “heading in a great direction” and that the new engine, which he and his team of graphics programmers had been developing, had finally found its stride. Despite the challenges the team faced, they had made significant progress. “Our project got cancelled. We’d been working on a new engine + MMO for some time now, and despite some troubles along the way, the project was heading in a great direction and our tech had found its footing,” he said. He also highlighted the strength of the graphics team, calling them “one of the best damn graphics teams around,” emphasizing the high-quality work they had done. If any of his colleagues were to seek new opportunities, Tardif gave them his full endorsement, praising their humility, work ethic, and talent.
Despite the positive outlook on the technical achievements of the project, Tardif acknowledged the disappointment felt by those involved. As someone who had spent thousands of hours in The Elder Scrolls Online, he had been eagerly anticipating this new MMORPG. Yet, there was a sense of sadness regarding the layoffs and the fact that such a promising project would never come to fruition. However, if one were to play devil’s advocate, the project’s lengthy development cycle of over seven years and lack of public-facing progress might have led Microsoft to reassess its investment. With the MMO genre seeing fewer and fewer Western triple-A games, the cancellation of Project Blackbird is a significant blow to the gaming community, especially for fans of MMOs.