Microsoft has extended consultation over Arkane Lyon’s future by one month while it explores options for the studio behind Marvel’s Blade. A company representative told PC Gamer that finding a development partner remains among those options, and that documents describing a potential closure do not represent a final decision.

A 23 October report by Le Monde put 217 jobs at risk and described unions seeking more time. Microsoft told that newspaper it was exploring options for Arkane and seeking a partner for the project’s next development and commercialisation phase. The subsequent extension gives that process more time, but does not establish that a rescue agreement has been reached.

A closure proposal, with alternatives still being explored

The risk is documented in a 24 July agreement between Arkane Studios SAS and Printemps écologique, reproduced by MaitreData from DILA records. It describes a proposal to end the company’s activities and make its employees redundant.

The same document also sets out a parallel search for someone to take over all or part of the business to preserve jobs. It provides for staff representatives to receive information about takeover offers, rather than treating closure as the only possible outcome.

For players waiting on Blade, that leaves a serious question over the studio’s future without settling the game’s fate. A proposal under consultation is not a completed shutdown, and a search for a partner does not mean a rescue deal has been agreed.

The original deadline has been extended

The July agreement originally set 13 November as the end of consultation with the works council. A separate July agreement extending employee representatives’ mandates placed implementation of the proposed changes from the end of 2026 into the first quarter of 2027, while also making provision for a takeover. These documents describe the earlier timetable, not a confirmed shutdown date.

Microsoft’s newer statement specifies a one-month extension, but does not give a new calendar date. The studio’s eventual ownership and the outcome of the consultation remain unresolved. Marvel’s Blade has not been confirmed cancelled in the sources checked for this report.

Revisit Blade’s original announcement

Bethesda announced Marvel’s Blade on 7 December 2023 as a mature, single-player, third-person game from the team behind Deathloop and Dishonored. Its original story takes place in a quarantined part of Paris during a vampire emergency.

The reveal presented a striking change of setting for Arkane, with Blade’s coat, sunglasses and sword at the centre of its visual identity. The trailer below is that original December 2023 announcement, included as an archive look at the project. It is not a new trailer or a gameplay demonstration.

Xbox’s 6 July restructuring statement said publicly announced first-party projects were not being cancelled as part of those reductions. That was a statement about the July changes, not a fresh guarantee of Blade’s future today.

There is no confirmed release date to share for South African players. For now, the question is whether a route forward can be secured for the studio and its work.

Featured image: archive announcement artwork from December 2023. Source: Bethesda Softworks / Arkane Lyon / Marvel Games.