A group of former The Elder Scrolls Online developers has bounced back with a new studio after Microsoft canceled their unannounced looter shooter amid the company's latest mass layoffs - and, most encouragingly, the new dev studio is entirely self-funded and worker-owned.
Just earlier this summer, Microsoft underwent another round of wide-ranging layoffs, which also resulted in the cancellations of the Perfect Dark reboot, Rare's Everwild, and an unannounced game from Zenimax Online, the studio behind The Elder Scrolls Online, that was reportedly in development for years.
"Today, a group of veteran developers behind Elder Scrolls Online and the cancelled Project Blackbird (as reported by Bloomberg) announced the formation of Sackbird Studios, an independent, employee-owned game studio that is self-funded for multiple years," a press release from Doug Carroll, a longtime ESO designer, reads. "With no outside investors and full creative control, the team is focused on building great games - on their own terms."
"After years in AAA, we wanted the freedom to take smart risks without waiting for a greenlight or chasing quarterly targets," said Sackbird COO David Worley. "We're fully employee-owned and funded, which means we only answer to people who are passionate about games."
"We're grateful for our time at ZeniMax Online Studios; it shaped us as developers and as people," CEO Lee Ridout continued. "When I learned that Blackbird was being cancelled and a lot of people were losing their jobs, it lit a fire. We realized the best way to protect our craft—and our team—was to create a studio where creative independence isn’t negotiable." Hear, hear.
The senior team reportedly consists of fewer than 10 people, but Sackbird still aspires to create "unforgettable multiplayer experiences that surprise and thrill players" on PC and consoles, according to a LinkedIn post. We might need to wait a while before seeing the studio formally announce a game - it was just set up, after all.
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