It's been a torrid couple of weeks for Xbox: layoffs, studio closures, game cancellations and everything in between. Among the casualties are Perfect Dark, Everwild and an unannounced MMORPG from ZeniMax Online.
In that brief period where we knew the layoffs were coming but not who was affected, rumours were swirling about every subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, including Arkane Studios. After all, not many believed Arkane Austin was in any danger, even with the failure of Redfall, but Xbox nonetheless shuttered the storied studio.
Thankfully, Arkane Lyon appears to be unaffected by the recent turmoil. In fact, according to a financial report (machine-translated from French), Marvel's Blade entered full production at the end of 2024, presumably after a period of pre-production and prototyping.
Blade has been in development since the release of Deathloop (2021), which means Blade has had a lengthy pre-production phase. This isn't necessarily a cause for concern, as a period of focused planning can make the production phase smoother and more efficient.
"The production phase of the AAA game project was able to commence at the end of 2024, after the validation of the prototype," the report reads.
However, in all likelihood, Blade...
