The developers who worked on the halted MMORPG “Project Blackbird” at ZeniMax Online Studios have still not been laid off two weeks after the announcement of its cancellation. For an expert, however, it’s just a matter of time.
Which MMORPG is it about? Project Blackbird was supposed to be a new AAA MMORPG from the creators of Elder Scrolls Online and aimed to conquer the market with a sci-fi setting as one of the few major MMORPGs from the West.
The project had not yet been publicly presented. First testers described it as a mix of Destiny 2 and Blade Runner, primarily due to the third-person loot shooter elements and the “sci-fi noir” setting with a strong focus on vertical movement.
But the MMORPG was halted after 7 years of development in the wake of the mass layoffs in July 2025 by Microsoft. According to industry insider Jason Schreier, employees suddenly could no longer log into their work accounts, well before any notice from HR was received.
Unlike previously assumed, there have been no layoffs yet, but it probably won’t be long before that changes.
Elder Scrolls Online continues to thrive despite the “Blackbird” cancellation:
No layoffs yet
What is the status of the employees? Although the development of the MMORPG has been halted, the developers are still employed at ZeniMax Online Studios. The reason, however, is not that they are needed for another project, but that the union “ZeniMax Online Studios United-CWA” is still negotiating a severance package.
In a statement from the union on Bluesky, it is explained that negotiations over the severance and the future of the employees are ongoing. The union further states that as long as there is no agreement, all employees will remain employed and receive full pay and all other benefits of their employment contracts.
However, the union does not disclose how far negotiations with Microsoft have progressed or when a result can be expected. However, the company will likely want to expedite the severance package since there’s nothing left to work on for Project Blackbird.
What does the future hold? Even though negotiations are still ongoing, the union openly admits in its statement on Bluesky that there will be layoffs in the workforce. While the news about the yet-to-be-layoffs initially brought joy on social media, industry expert Jason Schreier dampens expectations.
On Bluesky, he clarifies: “The employees of ZeniMax Online Studios who worked on Blackbird are only still employed while their union negotiates a severance. Almost all of them will lose their jobs. It just hasn’t happened formally yet.”
That the employees have not yet been laid off is likely thanks to their union. The future of the developers, however, will not be with ZeniMax Online Studios despite the pending layoffs. What the end of Project Blackbird means for the MMORPG industry has been explained by MeinMMO expert Karsten Scholz: The end of the ZeniMax MMORPG frustratingly highlights the biggest problem of the genre
