Around the middle of last year, Microsoft decided to get the hedge trimmers out at Xbox, causing mass layoffs that hit The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax particularly hard. These "inhumane" layoffs also led to the cancellation of multiple projects, one of which was Project Blackbird, an unannounced MMO that had reportedly excited Xbox executives a great deal.
Leaker eXtas1s (verified by Insider Gaming) recently posted a video, giving us our first proper look at some in-engine footage from Blackbird. The video doesn't show off gameplay, and instead was used internally to show off what the game's lighting would have looked like in Unreal Engine 4. We get glimpses of a sci-fi city, complete with alien creatures, neon lights, and trams chugging through the city smog.
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Project Blackbird was targeting a 2028 release internally, although it had been in the works years prior. There was no reason given for its cancellation, and it may be that we never know why it was canned at all. It's a bit difficult to mourn what was lost over two minutes of lighting footage, but it's still unfortunate we never got to see what excited people at Xbox about Project Blackbird.