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 · Jun 20

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 · May 3

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 · May 3

'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 · Apr 30

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 · Apr 29

"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 · Apr 28

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 · Jan 2

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 · Jan 2

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 · Sep 16, 2025

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 · Aug 1, 2025