Image credit: Microsoft

Yesterday, we officially heard what has been rumoured for the past few weeks: Microsoft is set to lay off thousands of people from its Xbox division, losing four game studios and making its remaining studios pivot to tried-and-tested franchises, all as part of a big 'reset' overseen by newly-appointed Xbox leader Asha Sharma.

Whilst we know the fate of some of the studios (Double Fine and Compulsion are going independent again whereas Ninja Theory and Undead Labs find themselves with as-yet-undisclosed new owners), it is currently unclear what exactly is happening with Arkane Lyon and it's mysterious in-development game, Marvel's Blade.

The original reveal trailer, from 2023.Watch on YouTube

So far, all we know for sure is that the French studio is undergoing "consultation", with more information yet to manifest in the wake of this latest round of Xbox cuts. But there is some other information floating around that we can patch together, and it helps inform more solidly what is likely to happen with Arkane Lyon in the coming months.

So, first up: why is Arkane Lyon going down a slightly different path to the rest of the Xbox studios? It's likely because the studio is based in France and because of local labour laws there; staff and the studio must engage in collaborative "required consultation" with a regional Works Council. Per the statements we've received from Xbox so far, we know this will include a "review of potential strategic options".

But what is the endgame for Xbox here? Does it want to keep the studio alive? Does it want to sell it off, like Undead Labs and Ninja Theory? Or is the play simply to close it down, a fate suffered by sister studio Arkane Austin in 2024? It may just be a joke, but Arkane co-founder Raphael Colantonio - who quit the company in 2017 - replied to an Asha Sharma tweet asking how much it would cost to buy Arkane from Xbox. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but seeing the studio go indie and manage to put out games like Dishonored again: it could be a silver lining to this monolithic, all-consuming cloud.

As for the game itself, it remains unclear what exactly is going to happen, but there's evidence to suggest it will come out - in some form, at some time. Given that Microsoft has stated, explicitly, that "none of [its] first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions", it seems as though Blade is safe (which is also backed up by other reports we've seen over the past few weeks).

But that doesn't mean everything is rosy for the vampire-action title. A report from The Verge noted that Marvel’s Blade was already "over-budget" and had been "delayed internally" (ergo: it was originally eyeing a 2026 release, but had been pushed to 2027. It has not yet received a public release date). Last month, Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard was quoted as saying he'd recently seen the game in action and was impressed by it (thanks, IGN). "I'm not at liberty to say when [we'll see more]," Howard noted, "but I saw some stuff [on 21st May] and the folks at Arkane are doing a really, really great job."

And that, really, is all we know about the game. Beyond a little bit of concept artwork and a financial document which revealed that Marvel's Blade only entered full production towards the end of 2024, the title is a mystery. Announced back in 2023, the most we know is via a press release that Arkane Lyon published at the time, teasing that Eric Cross Brookes (Blade) would be taking to a quarantined section of Paris "in the middle of a supernatural emergency" to ensure the vampire scourge didn't spread. After an excellent arc in Marvel's Midnight Suns, I really hope we get to see more Blade in games soon. And for the sake of the developers at Arkane Lyon, I hope this consultation process comes out in their favour.

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