The union representing Arkane Lyon's developers says Marvel's Blade is "going fine," that Microsoft froze hiring at the studio for 19 months, and that the delays and costs from that freeze are now being used to justify closing it. Here's the whole letter, what the union is demanding, and where the sale talks stand.
The fight over Arkane Lyon’s future just got louder. In an open letter posted November 4, France’s video game workers’ union, the STJV (Syndicat des travailleureuses du jeu vidéo), says Microsoft created the very problems it is now pointing to as reasons to shut the Dishonored and Marvel’s Blade studio down.
This comes one day after Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Ubisoft and at least two other companies have bid to buy Arkane Lyon. So while buyers are circling, the people actually making the game are finally telling their side in detail.
What you need to know
- Who’s talking: The STJV, the French union representing Arkane Lyon workers, in an open letter on its site (English version).
- The big claim: Microsoft froze hiring “for 19 months, which artificially caused delays and additional cost,” then used “those same delays and additional costs as a reason to close down the studio.”
- On Blade: The union says work on the game “is going fine” and that its quality is on par with what Arkane players expect.
- On the money: “Arkane is profitable. Just not profitable enough for Microsoft,” the letter says, and it argues closing the studio “would probably be more expensive than finishing the game.”
- Jobs at stake: 217 Arkane Lyon employees, per the union, plus the contractors, freelancers and maintenance, security and cleaning staff who keep the studio running.
- Microsoft’s response: Xbox had not responded to the claims as of VGC’s report on November 4, and we haven’t seen a public response since.
The union’s demands
The STJV says it wants Arkane to stay open and finish Blade. It also wants workers to have a say in who buys the studio, and it calls the severance Microsoft has offered “outrageously low.” If the studio closes anyway, the union is asking Microsoft for, per PC Gamer:
- A redundancy payment of 200,000 euros (about $225,000).
- Two years of redeployment support funded by Microsoft.
- Shared resources for training and starting new studios, plus a residual bonus.
- Compensation up to the redundancy amount for independent workers whose contracts get broken.
The union also says it does not want a sale at any price. In the English version of the letter it says it wants “our studio to live on and produce games, we want to finish Blade and release it to the players.” In the French version, it adds that it wants a buyer that gives the studio the means to last beyond Blade, and that if no serious offer shows up, Arkane will close.
A strike call starting today
In the French version of the letter, the STJV calls for a strike across the French video game industry from November 5 to November 13, and invites all game workers to join whatever their status. We haven’t seen any detail yet on how many Arkane staff are taking part or whether it affects Blade’s schedule.
The key quotes
- “Today, as work on Blade is going fine, and the level of quality of the game to be expected is on [par] with what Arkane has accustomed its players, workers have to face the harsh reality: our studio might get closed because, and only because, Microsoft decided to, even if that means sabotaging the game it funded.” (STJV, via VGC)
- “Microsoft chose to justify the closure on economic reasons. But Microsoft is actually why those economic reasons even exist.” (STJV, via PC Gamer)
- “Microsoft is responsible for the situation Arkane is in today. Microsoft is responsible for the situation the workers are in today. So Microsoft has to take full responsibility here and act accordingly.” (STJV, via PC Gamer)
The union also credits its earlier interviews with Le Monde and Les Échos for getting Microsoft to grant the extra month on the process, calling that “a step forward” but “far from enough.”
What should happen to Arkane Lyon now?
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How we got here
- July: Microsoft told Arkane Lyon staff it intended to close the studio. Under France’s Florange Law, a company that size has to look for a buyer first.
- October 23: Microsoft extended the consultation by one month, pushing the original November 13 deadline into mid-December, and said it was looking for a partner to finish Blade.
- November 3: Bloomberg reported bids from Ubisoft and at least two other gaming companies, and said Xbox had also weighed selling the studio to its own management. No deal yet.
- November 4: The STJV letter goes up.
Marvel’s Blade was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2023 and has not been shown since.
OnPoint’s take: This is a tough one to read, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. If the hiring freeze happened the way the union describes it, that’s a bad look for Microsoft, and the people building Blade deserve better than finding out their studio’s fate in the press. But here’s the part Xbox fans should hold on to: the union says Blade is in good shape, Microsoft already gave the process more time, and real buyers, Ubisoft included, are at the table. Every one of those points leads to the same place, Blade getting finished. That’s the outcome everybody wants, and right now it’s still very much on the table.
Image: Bethesda Softworks / Arkane Lyon / Marvel Games (via Bethesda.net), with OnPoint 4 Gamers text
Sources
- STJV open letter, English version (Nov 4, 2026)
- STJV open letter, French version with strike call (Nov 4, 2026)
- VGC: Arkane union says Xbox is ‘sabotaging’ Blade development (Nov 4, 2026)
- PC Gamer: French game union accuses Microsoft of ‘sabotaging’ Blade (Nov 4, 2026)
- The Verge: Unionized Arkane workers say that “Microsoft chose to close Arkane.”
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: Ubisoft just made a bid for Arkane Lyon
