Arkane Lyon, the studio behind Dishonored and Deathloop, has until November 13 to find a buyer, according to French newspaper Le Monde. That date ends the consultation with the studio's works council over a proposed closure, and roughly 217 jobs are at stake.
The gut-punch detail: the team's current project, Marvel's Blade, is reportedly close to done. A union representative told Le Monde the game "is nearing the end" of production and that it "would be a monumental waste" if it never came out. Hard to argue with that.
How we got here
This traces back to Xbox's July decision to divest several studios as part of a wider round of cuts. Under France's Florange Law, a company this size has to look for a buyer before closing a site with large-scale layoffs, which is why there's a formal deadline rather than a quiet shutdown. Microsoft told Le Monde it's "actively seeking a partner to support the next phase of development" for Marvel's Blade.
There's a glimmer here, though. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier wrote that he understands several paths that could save Arkane Lyon are being actively explored, and that he'd be surprised if the studio shut down. Negotiations can go either way, but that reads better than the deadline alone suggests.
It's still a grim spot for one of the more distinctive studios in the business, the people who made immersive sims feel worth caring about. We'll know more by mid-November.
Comments · 0