Nearly six months ago, Microsoft held a round of significant layoffs, affecting employees at Xbox-owned studios including King and ZeniMax. It led to several game cancellations, among them Everwild at Rare, the Perfect Dark reboot that took place on The Initiative, and Project Blackbird, an MMO project from ZeniMax.
At the time, not much was known about Project Blackbird, aside from its long development timeline (it had been in development since 2018). But now via a new leak, we have our first look at what might have been had Project Blackbird continued.
The leaked images, which were shared on social media by typically reliable insider eXtas1s, have been confirmed by Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson.
It's a total of two minutes long and depicts a futuristic, cyberpunk-esque world, complete with lots of neon. While it lacks gameplay, it does show off some character design, including some heavily customized soldiers. There is a significant sense of verticality, with the images going from the middle of the level, all the way to the bottom, and then back up again, each of these levels filled with different elements.
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Insider Gaming further noted that it was due out in 2028. It is still unclear why the game was canceled, especially after reports that it impressed Microsoft staff.
Much has happened in the wake of the cancellation of Project Blackbird
As mentioned above, in the wake of Blackbird's cancellation, a report noted that “CEO Phil Spencer loved the game so much that, during a demo in March, Xbox Games Studios boss Matt Booty had to take the controller out of his hands because he was late for a meeting.”
It was further rumored that part of the reason for Blackbird's cancellation was to free up resources to make “strategic investments in other areas”, namely Fallout. Shortly thereafter, those remaining at ZeniMax criticized Xbox and Microsoft's leadership for its “inhumane” treatment of those who were let go.
Later, in October, many of those who had been laid off left and formed their own studio, Sackbird, a self-funded venture. More recently, founder Matt Firor revealed that his abrupt departure was due, in large part, to the cancellation of Blackbird.
“Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create, and having it canceled led to my resignation,” a post on LinkedIn read in part. “My heart and thoughts are always with the affected team members, many of whom I have worked with for 20+ years, and all of whom were the most dedicated, incredibly talented group of developers in the industry.”
In the end, the images weren't much, but it was enough to see some of the vision that allegedly got Microsoft excited.
- Released
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November 14, 2018
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intent Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Engine
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Creation
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Cross-platform play
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no
