It's apparently leak day in the games industry: after the Marathon launch date leak, there's also the first in-game look at ZeniMax's canceled Project Blackbird. Insider eXtas1s shared it on X, and Tom Henderson later confirmed it was real, adding that it was used internally to show off the Unreal Engine 4-powered lighting. It is unclear whether the game was still running on Unreal Engine 4 when it was canceled, had already updated to Unreal Engine 5, or was planned to.
To be honest, that footage isn't very impressive. I'm not crazy on the character designs, for example. That said, it could be old, and of course, it doesn't tell us anything about how the game actually played. I've played a ton of The Elder Scrolls Online and was definitely looking forward to ZeniMax Online's new project, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on that count, especially given the reports.
In November 2022, the game, based on a new intellectual property, had already been in development for over four and a half years and boasted a manpower of more than 200 employees. We didn't really hear anything further about Project Blackbird until Microsoft suddenly announced its cancellation in July 2025, as part of a major round of layoffs that also affected Rare (Everwild was canceled) and The Initiative (the whole studio was shut down, and Perfect Dark was canceled as well).
A couple of days later, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier revealed that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer had loved his hands-on time with the game just a few months ahead of the cancellation. The journalist also viewed some gameplay footage of Project Blackbird and confirmed it looked impressive. This backs up the public-facing statement of ZOS Lead Graphics Programmer Alex Tardif, who said the new engine had found its footing and the game was heading in a 'great direction'.
Another report by TrueAchievements provided a few more details on the game itself: it would be a third-person online shooter in which players would become Revenants, bio‑enhanced operatives employed by alien syndicates to navigate the underworld of Soteria, a tidally-locked planet with extreme biomes. Throughout Project Blackbird, players would rise through criminal/corporate ranks and uncover a murder conspiracy.
Former ZeniMax Online founder and studio head Matt Firor acknowledged earlier this month that the cancellation of Project Blackbird led to his resignation, adding that this was the game he had waited his entire career to make. Following the cancellation, at least two different studios have been formed by the fired employees: Sackbird Studios and Ironroot Games.
Nowadays, ZeniMax Online has returned to focus solely on The Elder Scrolls Online, recently revealing a major shift to a seasonal model and free content updates.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
