A French union representing workers at Arkane has accused Xbox of sabotaging the development of Marvel's Blade by imposing a 19-month ban on hiring new staff. The union claims that internal delays were artificially caused by Microsoft, which prevented Arkane from hiring new developers for over a year. The union's statement also mentions that work on Blade is going fine and the level of quality is expected to be on par with Arkane's previous games.
The union has outlined a list of demands for Xbox, including giving Arkane a say in who would potentially acquire the studio and a higher redundancy payout should Arkane be closed down. Arkane argues that it is in Xbox's interest to stick with the studio, as closing it would be more expensive than finishing the game. The fate of Blade and Arkane's future remain uncertain, with Xbox yet to respond to the union's claims.
Arkane was founded in 1999 and is best known for the Dishonored series and Prey. The studio joined Microsoft when its parent company, ZeniMax, was acquired in 2021. The potential closure comes as part of Xbox's ongoing 'reset' rolled out by the new CEO, Asha Sharma.