{"id":241784,"date":"2025-07-06T04:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T04:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/241784\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T04:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T04:16:09","slug":"xboxs-sci-fi-looter-shooter-blackbird-was-scrapped-even-after-leaving-execs-blown-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/241784\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox&#8217;s sci-fi looter-shooter Blackbird was scrapped even after leaving execs &#8216;blown away&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Xbox was well on its way to delivering a sci-fi stylized game with plenty of exciting movement mechanics before an abrupt change of heart. The upcoming third-person shooter RPG codenamed Blackbird from ZeniMax Online Studios, which developed The Elder Scrolls Online, has been &#8220;shelved indefinitely,&#8221; according to an exclusive report from <a data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/newsletters\/2025-07-03\/microsoft-s-xbox-cancels-blackbird-an-upcoming-game-that-impressed-executives\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Bloomberg;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Bloomberg<\/a>. The report added that Xbox execs were &#8220;blown away&#8221; by the game and had &#8220;nothing but complimentary words,&#8221; according to Bloomberg&#8217;s sources.<\/p>\n<p>The exciting new IP was expected to rival the Destiny franchise with its looter-shooter gameplay in an alien noir-themed world. The Bloomberg report revealed that a sci-fi setting would be paired with movement-based abilities like &#8220;double-jumping, air-dashing, a grappling hook and wall climbing.&#8221; The project was reportedly gaining momentum recently and was set to be released in 2028, after the studio expanded its team to 300 people.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft didn&#8217;t provide comments to Bloomberg or any explicit reasoning why the Blackbird project was dropped. Not much was known about the game, but<a data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trueachievements.com\/news\/canceled-xbox-mmo-project-blackbird\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:TrueAchievements;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> TrueAchievements<\/a> uncovered a plot that revolves around players uncovering a notorious murder in a capital city called Exodus. Along with Blackbird, Microsoft canceled <a data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/gaming\/everwild-has-reportedly-been-cancelled-amid-xbox-layoffs-162200526.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Everwild;cpos:3;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everwild<\/a>, a fantasy game from Rare that&#8217;s been in development since 2014, and a reboot of the Perfect Dark first-person shooter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xbox was well on its way to delivering a sci-fi stylized game with plenty of exciting movement mechanics&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1583,14083,507,12,53,16,15,289],"class_list":{"0":"post-241784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-gaming","9":"tag-layoffs","10":"tag-microsoft","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-xbox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}