Marvel's Blade is progressing well behind closed doors, by the account of the people making it. The union representing Arkane Lyon's workers, STJV, said in a statement this week that development on the game is "going fine" — and accused Microsoft of putting the studio, and the game, at risk anyway.
The statement argues that the delays and extra costs now hanging over Marvel's Blade were manufactured by Microsoft itself. STJV says Xbox froze hiring at Arkane Lyon for 19 months, which "artificially caused delay and additional cost," and that Microsoft is now using those same delays and costs as its economic case for closing the studio down.
STJV does not mince words about what a closure would mean for the game. Workers "might get closed because, and only because, Microsoft decided to, even if that means sabotaging the game it funded," the statement reads, calling the decision "the brutal application of a never-ending search for maximum profit optimisation." Its sharpest line is also its simplest: "Arkane is profitable. Just not profitable enough for Microsoft."
The union also argues that closing Arkane Lyon would likely cost Microsoft more than simply finishing Marvel's Blade. Alongside the accusation, the union published a list of demands: a say for workers in choosing any buyer for the studio, a guaranteed redundancy payment of €200,000 per worker if the studio closes, two years of redeployment support funded by Microsoft, and protections for the independent contractors working alongside the staff.
All of it lands in the middle of a fight over the studio's future. Arkane Lyon has been in a formal consultation period under French labor law since Xbox's restructuring began earlier this year, and Microsoft recently granted an extra month — pushing the deadline to December 13, 2026 — after the union took the situation to the press. Reports this week say Ubisoft and two other companies have submitted bids to acquire the studio, with a management buyout also under consideration.
At stake is far more than one studio's headcount. Arkane Lyon built Dishonored 2 and Deathloop, and its sister studio Arkane Austin — the team behind Prey and Redfall — was already shut down by Microsoft in 2024. Marvel's Blade, announced at The Game Awards 2023 and set in Paris, has shown nothing beyond concept art since its reveal, and its future now depends on whether the studio making it survives the winter.
Xbox had not responded to the union's claims when the statement circulated. What happens next rests on the December 13 deadline: a buyer, a buyout, or a closure that STJV insists would say more about Microsoft's spreadsheet than about the game Arkane Lyon is still busy finishing.
