ZeniMax Online founder confirms he quit after Microsoft shut down Project Blackbird, “the game I had waited my entire career to create”

ZeniMax Online founder Matt Firor has confirmed he chose to walk away from the studio after parent company Microsoft canceled Project Blackbird, “the game [he] had waited [his] entire career to create.”

Following the announcement of the closure of Zenimax Online Studios’ long-in-development MMO in July, as part of the sweeping Microsoft cuts and layoffs, studio president Matt Firor left the company that same month, stating the studio and The Elder Scrolls Online will be “in great hands” under the direction of new studio head Jo Burba, executive producer Susan Kath and game director Rich Lambert.

Now, in a candid message posted over the new year LinkedIn (via IGN), Firor thanked colleagues for their support after announcing his exit from Maryland-based ZeniMax Online, and admitted “the most obvious explanation [about his leaving ZOS] is the correct one.”

“About what led my leaving ZOS – the most obvious explanation is the correct one. Project Blackbird was the game I…