Ubisoft has reportedly bid to buy Arkane Lyon, the Dishonored and Deathloop studio, from Xbox, and a day later the union representing Arkane’s workers accused Microsoft of creating the very problems it’s using to justify a closure. VGC’s write-up of Jason Schreier’s Bloomberg report says Ubisoft is the only bidder named, with at least two other gaming companies also in the running. No deal has been announced, so treat the Ubisoft part as reported, not confirmed.
My read: a bid is good news, but it doesn’t rescue anybody yet. The clock is still running, and Marvel’s Blade is stuck in the middle of it.
What’s been reported, and what’s confirmed
The sourcing here matters, so let’s separate it out. The bids come from people familiar with the negotiations, according to Schreier. Pure Xbox’s summary of the same report adds that Xbox has “not yet come to an agreement with any potential buyer” and has also weighed selling the studio to its own management. That route would make Arkane independent, the way Double Fine and Compulsion Games went.
What Xbox has said on the record is thin. A spokesperson told Bloomberg the company is “exploring options ahead of a December deadline” and declined to go further, per Pure Xbox.
That deadline is real. VGC reported on October 26 that Microsoft had pushed the original November 13 date back by a month, with a statement saying “we have extended the consultation period by one additional month as we explore options.” The search for a buyer exists because of France’s Florange Law, which requires companies with more than 1,000 employees to look for one before closing a facility.
The union’s letter is the part that stings
On November 4, the French union STJV published an open letter, and it doesn’t hold back. Kotaku quotes it saying the studio “might get closed because, and only because, Microsoft decided to.” The central allegation is a 19-month hiring freeze that the union says “artificially caused delay and additional cost.”
The union’s argument goes like this: Microsoft froze hiring, the freeze caused delays and extra spending, and those delays and costs are now the economic case for shutting the place down. According to GamesRadar+, the letter also claims Arkane’s remaining cash is routinely moved to the wider group through a cash pooling mechanism, and it says, flatly, “Arkane is profitable. Just not profitable enough for Microsoft.”
These are the union’s claims, and they haven’t been independently verified. VGC noted that Xbox hadn’t responded when it published, and GamesRadar+ said it had asked Microsoft for comment.
The human stakes are specific. The letter says 217 workers would be affected if no solid offer appears. If the studio does close, the union wants a €200,000 redundancy payment, two years of redeployment support and compensation for contractors. It calls the resources on offer right now “outrageously low.”
Why players should care about the Blade timeline
Here’s the strange bit: nobody seems to agree on how close Marvel’s Blade actually is. The union says work is “going fine,” and GamesRadar+ reports the letter describes the game as close to completion. VGC cited union members calling it virtually finished, and calling an unreleased Blade a “monumental waste.” But Bloomberg, via Pure Xbox, expects it “within the next year or two,” and Kotaku describes it as rumored to be about two years out.
That gap decides everything for a buyer. A game that’s nearly done is an asset. A game that’s two years away is a two-year payroll for 217 people, plus whatever it costs to finish a licensed Marvel project. The union’s line that closing Arkane “would probably be more expensive than finishing the game” is a strong one, but it’s only as good as the real distance to the finish line, and outsiders can’t see that yet.
There’s also the question of what actually gets sold. VGC says the fate of Blade is uncertain and that it’s unclear what would happen to Dishonored and Deathloop in a sale. If you’ve been hoping for a Dishonored 3, that’s the line to watch. A studio without its signature series would be a very different purchase, and I’d want to know that before calling any deal a win.
Is Ubisoft really the right home?
Opinion time. On paper, this is an odd match. Ubisoft has spent the year cutting, with layoffs and cancelled projects including a Prince of Persia remake, and we covered the six games it canned during that restructuring. A company still shrinking itself going shopping for a French immersive-sim studio with an expensive licensed game attached is either a smart pickup at a low price or a move that swaps one anxious owner for another. Probably some of both.
Independence isn’t an easy out either. VGC points out that Double Fine laid off 23 people after going solo, and that Ninja Theory is seeking a buyer after two deals fell through, with layoffs already under way there. Arkane was founded in 1999, but pedigree doesn’t pay salaries, and its last game was Deathloop in 2021.
All of this sits inside Xbox’s wider “reset” under CEO Asha Sharma, a long way from where things stood when Phil Spencer stepped down earlier this year. Microsoft has already closed Arkane’s Austin studio after Redfall, so nobody at Lyon needs reminding that this can end badly.
What to watch next
Three things. First, the mid-December deadline: any named buyer or management deal should surface before then, and the union has already claimed the last extension only came after it warned the press, so expect more public pressure. Second, whether Microsoft answers the sabotage allegation directly. Third, any word on who keeps Blade and Dishonored. The union wants a say in who buys the studio too, and if that happens, it’ll tell us a lot about how this ends.