Zenimax Online founder and Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor left the studio in 2025, confirming months later that his departure was a direct result of Microsoft's cancelling his dream MMO, Project Blackbird. You might think that colors his feelings about ESO, but no – it's apparently still one of his favorite games, and he's continuing to play it to this day, even as his guildmates have no idea who he is.
"I did take two or three months off just to get away mentally, but I started playing again," Firor says in a new interview with MinnMax. He says he's quite enjoying experiencing the game purely as a player rather than a developer, since he no longer needs to jump into Slack to report every bug he sees when playing on live servers.
