Microsoft has canceled a lot of projects over the past few years, but none live in the imagination quite like Project Blackbird , an online loot shooter RPG from the studio behind The Elder Scrolls Online . It was one of the casualties of the tech giant’s cost-cutting in the summer of 2025, despite then–Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reportedly having loved what he played of it . Former ZeniMax Online Studios head Matt Firor recently shed more light on the project and that pivotal decision, which caused him to leave the company, in a new interview. “Making games is always a heartbreaking business,” he told MinnMax ‘s Ben Hanson . “Like, no matter what happens, you could be at the best studio in the world, and decisions happen that impact people. I didn’t agree with what happened, but I understood the reasoning behind it.…