French newspaper Le Monde reports that Arkane Lyon has until November 13 to find a buyer. According to the report, 217 jobs are at risk.
That’s a big warning sign for the studio behind Dishonored 2 and Deathloop. It’s also bad news for anyone waiting on Marvel’s Blade.
Raphaël Colantonio founded Arkane in Lyon in 1999. ZeniMax Media bought the studio in 2010. That put it under the same roof as Bethesda. Microsoft then bought ZeniMax for around $7.5bn, a deal it completed in March 2021.
Lyon’s résumé is strong. It made Dishonored 2 in 2016 and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider in 2017. It then released Deathloop in 2021, a time-loop shooter that won Best Game Direction and Best Art Direction at The Game Awards that year. The first Dishonored in 2012 was a joint effort between Lyon and Austin.
So what about Blade?
Arkane Lyon revealed Marvel’s Blade at The Game Awards in December 2023. It’s a mature, single-player, third-person game set in Paris. It tells an original story starring Marvel’s vampire hunter.
Since then, details have been scarce. There’s no release date and no confirmed platforms.
A sale wouldn’t automatically save the game. Blade belongs to Marvel, not Arkane. Any new owner would need the right agreements with Marvel and a way to pay for and publish the game. Buying a studio doesn’t always mean buying its projects. The same goes for older series like Dishonored.
At the same time, nothing confirms that a sale would kill the game. For now, the future of Blade is simply unclear.
There’s at least one recent example of a happier ending. Microsoft closed Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks in May 2024, the same day Austin closed. A few months later, Krafton took over the studio and the Hi-Fi Rush series.
