Developer Arkane Studios seems to be making steady progress in its development of Marvel’s Blade. In a recently-released financial statement, the studio confirmed that an unnamed AAA title had entered its production phase at the end of 2024 after “prototype validation” had been completed. This would indicate that the project was done with its pre-production phase.
In a document about its financials for the previous year, Arkane Studios in its revenue section that “game development activities exclusively for ZeniMax/Microsoft group are ongoing,” according to a translation of the text via Google. “The production phase of the AAA project was launched at the end of 2024, following prototype validation.”
While the project hasn’t been outright named in the document, the timing, as well as the fact that Arkane Studios has been working on Marvel’s Blade for some time now with no other announced game, would indicate that development has been slow. The fact that the game had just entered its main production phase at the end of 2024 would also indicate that the game might still be on track for the rumoured 2027 launch window.
It is also likely that the internal expectations of the launch window for Marvel’s Blade might have changed, however, since the rumoured 2027 projected launch came from all the way back in 2023. “Right now, internally, they are expecting that to be sold on store shelves and digitally in 2027,” said GiantBomb’s Jeff Grub at the time. “That is the year that they are aiming for that game.”
The timeline for the game’s development also likely saw quite a few changes when one of the studios under the Arkane banner – Arkane Austin – was shuttered early last year. After it had happened, Marvel’s Blade and Deathloop director Dinga Bikaba had spoken out about Microsoft’s decision to close the studio along with others like Tango Gameworks.
“This is absolutely terrible,” said Bikaba at the time. “Permission to be human: to any executive reading this, a friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.”
“Don’t throw us into gold fever gambits, don’t use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don’t make our work environments Darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we saw it before. For now, great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it’s a f*****g gut stab.”
Marvel’s Blade was officially announced back in December 2023 with a trailer. The game is slated to be a a single-player action-adventure title with mature themes and, considering the superhero it involves, likely quite a bit of violence. In a departure for Arkane Studios, the game will also make use of a third-person camera angle, compared to the first-person titles usually worked on by the studio.
The team behind Marvel’s Blade – Arkane Lyon – has previously worked on titles like Deathloop and Dishonored 2.
