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DARK SECRETS: Matt firor - The Real Truth

5 promising games recently cancelled by Microsoft

If you wished for more pizazz at this year's Xbox Showcase, there's lots of it buried in an growing graveyard of cancelled Xbox games.

PC Gamer

Former Elder Scrolls Online boss was told in 2001 that 'There's already enough MMOs out there, no one is ever gonna play a new one'

An extremely funny thing to say three years before World of Warcraft.

PC Gamer

Former Elder Scrolls Online boss describes Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin closing as a turning point at Xbox: 'I know where this is going'

Xbox vibe shift.

PC Gamer

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Elder Scrolls Online vet hates when people call the MMO a "WoW clone" since "you're not going to have fun at all" if you play it like Blizzard's game

MMORPGs will be MMORPGs

GamesRadar

Elder Scrolls Online director says his cancelled MMO was a "missed opportunity" for Bethesda and Xbox, but "a giant successful video game" isn't enough for Microsoft's higher-ups

"That was just a very large bet and they needed to hedge their large bets"

GamesRadar

Crimson Desert "is almost like cheating," former Elder Scrolls Online lead says, who doesn't know why more MMO devs haven't followed Pearl Abyss' lead

"I still don't know what I'm doing, but I'm having so much fun," says Matt Firor

GamesRadar

MMO vet Matt Firor was going to make Fallout Online in 2007, but Interplay 'went totally dark on me' and he went to Bethesda to make ESO instead

What could've been.

PC Gamer

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'Why didn't anyone think of this before?': Former Elder Scrolls Online boss loves Crimson Desert, but making 'a singleplayer MMO is almost like cheating' to him

Pearl Abyss skipped the hardest part.

PC Gamer

Elder Scrolls Online director still secretly plays the MMO, even after he left the studio when Microsoft killed his dream game: "I'm in guilds, and they don't know who I am"

"I just play and it's a lot of fun"

GamesRadar

"The world probably would have been a better place with that game in it": Ex-The Elder Scrolls Online director reflects on Xbox canceling his 'Project Blackbird' MMO amid layoffs

The director of the canceled Xbox MMO Project Blackbird has reflected on the project and its unfortunate death in a new interview. Here's what he said.

Windows Central

Microsoft killed his dream MMO despite apparently loving it, says former Elder Scrolls Online head, so he left: "The game I had waited my entire career to create"

Matt Firor left Zenimax after the cancellation of Project Blackbird

GamesRadar

Former Elder Scrolls Online chief confirms Microsoft's 2025 bloodbath drove his departure from ZeniMax: 'Project Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create'

Matt Firor announced his split from ZeniMax Online Studios the same day Microsoft laid off roughly 9,000 employees and cancelled multiple game projects.

PC Gamer

The Elder Scrolls Online studio head says Microsoft's brutal cuts were 'super emotional… it was awful'

Despite the cancellation of Blackbird, still wants to make a new game.

PC Gamer

The Elder Scrolls Online 'isn't going anywhere,' new ZeniMax boss says: 'The studio is continuing to work hard on new features, adventures, and improvements'

It's been a month since Microsoft cancelled a new MMO in development at ZeniMax, a move that coincided with the departure of former studio president and TESO director Matt Firor.

PC Gamer

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PC Gamer

The Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor, who helped launch ZeniMax Online Studios in 2007, is leaving the company

Word of Firor's surprise departure came just hours after Microsoft announced the layoff of 9,000 employees.

GamesRadar

After 18 years, Elder Scrolls Online director and studio head Matt Firor is leaving the company amid Microsoft layoffs: "There are many more stories to be told, adventures to be had"

Zenimax Online's new MMO was canceled as part of the Xbox layoffs

Windows Central

The Elder Scrolls Online Direct April 2025 reveals Subclasses, the Worm Cult, and more

The Elder Scrolls Online Direct 2025 shared details on what's coming to the MMORPG, including Subclasses and a sequel story.

GamesRadar

Elder Scrolls Online is done with "massive content updates once a year" and is switching to "smaller bite-sized" seasons in 2025

Zenimax is also addressing Cyrodiil performance and improving the "new and returning user experience" with UI and visual upgrades

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PC Gamer

After 10 years of reinventing The Elder Scrolls Online, its devs say they'd have only done one thing differently: 'Pick the game you want to make'

Studio director Matt Firor and creative director Rich Lambert say ESO's early struggles ultimately made for a better game.

GamesRadar

The Elder Scrolls Online developers wouldn't call the long-running game an MMO because it's more a "virtual world" at this point

A not-so-MMO morning for ESO

GamesRadar

Elder Scrolls Online boss reckons "very few people" would play a Morrowind-style open world nowadays, as teams need to "support" two kinds of players

Matt Firor says most gamers might not have the time they used to

PC Gamer

The Elder Scrolls Online has made nearly $2 billion in its lifetime, 9 years after the big comeback that doubled its player count overnight

After 10 years, TESO is an even bigger financial success than I realized.

GamesRadar

After making $2 billion in 10 years, The Elder Scrolls Online's director wants you to know that the MMO is definitely "one of the successful live service games"

Don't bet against ESO

GamesRadar

As Final Fantasy 14's visual overhaul nears, the Elder Scrolls MMO developers acknowledge improved technology is really important

"We do run on a somewhat aging engine"

GamesRadar

Elder Scrolls Online studio head says Skyrim completely changed what people even thought an Elder Scrolls RPG was, so the MMO "had to radically change lots of things"

ZeniMax Online Studio's Matt Firor didn't mince words on the impact of Skyrim

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