The ongoing regime change and reorganization at Xbox hasn’t given much cause for confidence in the state of its studios—particularly Arkane Lyon, which has stayed almost entirely out of the public eye since announcing Marvel’s Blade at the 2023 Game Awards. The studio was once again absent at this month’s Xbox Games Showcase, and the subsequent reports that “several” Microsoft developers are at risk of closure stoked fears that both Arkane and Blade had been quietly put out to pasture.
Bethesda Softworks boss Todd Howard, however, says we needn’t worry our silly little heads, because Arkane’s work on Marvel’s daywalker is proceeding swimmingly.
As part of an Entertainment Weekly report on the current state of Xbox (via Polygon), Howard offered a brief confirmation that work on Marvel’s Blade remains underway, speaking favorably about the state of the project after seeing some of Arkane’s latest work in May.
“I’m not at liberty to say when [we’ll see more],” Howard said, “but I saw some stuff just yesterday [on May 21] and the folks at Arkane are doing a really, really great job.”
Paired with an Arkane artist’s request earlier this month that we let the studio cook, Howard’s statement is a welcome sign of life. Unfortunately, when it’s Microsoft we’re talking about, a confirmation that Blade is still in development isn’t the definitive proof of a healthy future for Arkane that we might be hoping for: Xbox was willing to announce a new Ninja Theory game at this month’s Xbox Games Showcase even as it was planning to give the studio the axe.
Reportedly, the company’s rationale is that announcing Senua would make the studio more attractive to other investors and potential owners after it parts ways with the developer. However, given Microsoft’s ruthlessness in culling development staff and their projects in recent years—including Arkane’s Austin studio, which Microsoft shuttered in 2024—that supposed altruism rings hollow.
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