Zenimax Online had another MMO in development called Project Blackbird that was described as a Destiny-like shooter with a lot of positive first impressions surrounding it. It had been in development since 2018 and was nearing its eventual reveal. Then Microsoft canceled the entire project as part of their big round of layoffs that happened last year (not to be confused with the bigger round of layoffs this year).

So they had a Destiny-like MMO, which already had 7 years of work done on it, and then killed it for short-term financial gains. Destiny implodes, Microsoft realizes “Shit, there’s an opening in the market here,” but instead of already having a killer project ready to go to fill the void, they’re instead going to start over from scratch using a tired, recycled IP that will inevitably release far too late.