How this will ultimately affect the studio remains to be seen, but MachineGames is allegedly safe. The success of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has seemingly assured its continued existence, with Xbox reportedly keen on investing in the studio. Not only is a TV show allegedly in the works (with Amazon’s Fallout TV producers involved), but Wolfenstein 3 is also in the works.

It will reportedly complement the show, and given how Xbox is trying to capitalize on its transmedia properties, these moves make sense. When we’ll hear about it is a different story altogether, but if rumors about mass layoffs on July 6th are true, we’ll at least learn more about Arkane’s new structure.

As for Marvel’s Blade, it’s allegedly planned to be revealed this year with a release targeting 2027. It’s apparently pretty far along, though we’ve seen next to nothing from it since its announcement in December 2023 (not counting Todd Howard’s praise).

However, despite allegedly being delayed to next year, Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb reports that it was “pretty far along.” On the latest Giant Bombcast, he notes that Arkane “were going to begin debuting it in some way later this year, and maybe even release it next year.”

He notes that the project seemingly needed more time but Xbox “just didn’t want to pay for that.” Keep in mind that Grubb didn’t confirm the cancellation or even that Arkane is officially being canned. But it seems the 2027 release window is legitimate, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier on ResetEra, though he couldn’t confirm the fate of either with “100 percent certainty” at this time.

Aside from Arkane, reports currently claim that Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, Double Fine Productions and Undead Labs are in danger of shutting down. There’s always the possibility of a buy-out or another company acquiring the studios, but nothing is confirmed as of now. Obsidian Entertainment was recently alleged to be part of the lineup, but it’s seemingly safe, as Schreier debunked those reports.

With Microsoft entering a new financial year, we could learn more next week and see just how extensive the layoffs could be. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

Despite positive statements from Bethesda creative director Todd Howard, Microsoft is reportedly considering shelving Marvel’s Blade, announced in December 2023. Besides missing an alleged 2026 launch for a late 2027 window, it’s apparently over budget – and with Xbox looking to cut costs, that probably pushed it to the front of the queue.

As with other reported studios on the chopping block, including Double Fine Productions, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory and, more recently, Undead Labs, Arkane could survive if sold off. Options are seemingly being explored for the same, though whether a potential buyer is even available remains to be seen.

Even if each of the above studios emerges unscathed, Xbox is reportedly looking at layoffs at id Software and Blizzard Entertainment. It’s also allegedly stopped funding projects like 1666: Amsterdam and confirmed that it won’t be partnering with the likes of IO Interactive to publish Project Fantasy, leading to layoffs at the studio.

Amid all this uncertainty, however, it’s still forging ahead with its gaming investments, even if the returns leave something to be desired, as seen with Xbox Series X/S sales cratering last month. And that was before recent price increases.

Aside from assuring that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still coming along, Bethesda’s director and executive producer had good things to say about the upcoming vampire-slaying adventure featuring the titular character from Marvel’s comics and films. However, he was pretty cagey about when we would get a look at the game, or a potential release window.

“I’m not at liberty to say when, but I saw some stuff just yesterday, and the folks at Arkane are doing a really, really great job.”

That definitely gives us reason to be optimistic about this one, despite the relative lack of new information from Arkane since its announcement in December 2023. However, it’s worth noting that Howard’s comments are from May and only recently published by Entertainment Weekly. Whether things have changed at Xbox since, especially with layoffs reportedly looming, remains to be seen. Lest we forget, the gaming division did announce Ninja Theory’s Senua one week before reports emerged of its imminent closure (though the decision had apparently been made prior).

For now, we’re going to consider Howard’s words as a sign that things are going well, and that a little bit of patience is a small price to pay for a title that could potentially complement Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of Dawnwalker, which launches in September.

When a social media user tagged Arkane, asking if the studio was “still alive” (via machine translation), Monnet responded with a GIF from Breaking Bad, featuring protagonist Walter White simply saying: “Let us cook.”

Marvel’s Blade was announced all the way back in December 2023. Since then, however, the studio has been quiet about the project, aside from confirming that it had “just begun development” at the time. Aside from Monnet’s recent post, the only other proof of its existence was another social media post by co-creative and art director Sebastien Mitton, where he showed off a few pieces of concept art from the project.

Interestingly, the LinkedIn profile of Marvel’s Blade’s campaign director, Dana Nightingale, has indicated that it’s been in the works since January 2022. However, the team likely spent over a year in the pre-production phase.

In the meantime, rumors have indicated that Marvel’s Blade is internally expected to launch in 2027. Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grub said at the time that this timeline is just an estimate, and marks the earliest point at which Arkane Lyon believes the project will be ready.

The studio’s titles are known for their unique gameplay mechanics that often rely heavily on the tropes and conventions of the immersive sim genre. While the studio has worked on several cult-classic projects throughout its time, such as 2002’s Arx Fatalis, it received broader recognition for the 2012 release of Dishonored. Since its formation, Arkane Lyon has been working on many other games and expansions in the series, including 2017’s Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and 2019’s Wolfenstein: Youngblood, the latter of which was co-developed by the studio alongside MachineGames.

The last major project from the studio was 2021’s Deathloop, which was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The title put players in the shoes of Colt, who happens to be stuck in a strange time loop on the island of Blackreef. It makes use of some light roguelite mechanics and encourages players to experiment quite heavily in how they approach its many levels, with the ultimate goal of taking down 8 “Visionaries”.

Deathloop also included an interesting multiplayer “invasion” system, where players could take on the role of rival assassin Julianna to hunt down other players who were making their way through the campaign.

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.

Branding it an “unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by Microsoft’s ‘infinite money’,” Colantonio believes that at some point “reality has to hit.” “I don’t think Game Pass can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else or give up.”

Responding to Michael Douse, director of publishing on Baldur’s Gate 3, who said the “infinite money thing never made any sense,” Colantonio said, “I agree, and I’m fed up with all the BS they fed us at first like ‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t impact the sales’, only to admit years later that it totally does. ‘No s*** it does! Really?'”

Douse did highlight how it could help provide recognition for “smaller teams with new or riskier IPs,” but preferred Sony’s “lifecycle management strategy.” Colantonio responded, “The only way Game Pass can co-exist without hurting everyone is for the back catalogue.”

While Game Pass started with much fanfare, its subscription numbers have slowed over the years. Despite this, PC Game Pass subscriptions still grew by over 30 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. Furthermore, developers like Rebellion have noted the service’s role in making its new title Atomfall a success. Pocketpair even highlighted how it’s “very worth” having your title on Game Pass after the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Of course, whether the shoe will drop and developers aren’t offered as lucrative deals to bring their titles to Game Pass remains to be seen. For the time being, Microsoft shows no signs of stopping its own titles from launching on day one for the service. However, Phil Spencer said the company doesn’t want it to replace the practice of owning games. Head here for more details.

As caught by RockPaperShotgun, Colantonio spoke on a recent episode of the Quad Damage Podcast when asked about sequels to the Prey and Dishonored games. While he didn’t express any interest in a new game in the Prey series, Colantonio was keen on working on a hypothetical Dishonored 3.

“I’d love to,” said Colantonio. “I mean, we’re talking totally hypothetically at this point – I could see myself working on Dishonored 3 right now because it’s been so long that, you know, why not?”

He mentioned that quite a few of the developers at Arkane had their own ideas for a new game in the Dishonored franchise, including Deathloop director Dinga Bkaba and Dishonored creator Harvey Smith. However, since these are just ideas for now and haven’t even been pitched as of yet, Colantonio doesn’t believe there is much of a point in talking about a Dishonored 3 at this stage.

“I don’t think it would make sense to talk about it,” Colantonio continued. “Which of those three versions will ever see the day, now we’re talking about science fiction at this point. So many of the people [that worked on the series] are scattered around, and Harvey is not at Arkane any more. I’m not at Arkane, and Dinga is working on Blade.”

The first Dishonored game, back when it came out in 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, essentially put Arkane on the map after the studio had previously worked on niche titles like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Dishonored was able to successfully combine an oppressive visual style in the vein of Half-Life 2 with the stealth-based gameplay of the Thief franchise and some of the more fanciful abilities you’d see in titles like System Shock 2.

Its sequel, Dishonored 2, was also a critical success. The game was especially praised for the wide variety of powers that players could get access to, as well as intricate level design that still hasn’t been seen in other games since then.

While Arkane Lyon, the studio that worked on Deathloop, is currently working on Marvel’s Blade, the game is still some time away. Back in December, reports indicated that the studio was internally aiming to launch it in 2027 “at the earliest.”

Arkane Austin, on the other hand, was part of a host of studio closures at Microsoft last year. The studio was joined by Tango Gameworks, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Studios. Bikaba has previously called the closure of these studios “absolutely terrible.” He also called out company executives for making developers’ work environments “Darwinist jungles.”

For more details, check out our coverage of the closure of Arkane Austin. In the meantime, also check out our review of Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

One franchise that’s in with a fair shout of getting more than a handful of votes though is Arkane’s Dishonored. The first was in 2012, it’s sequel and subsequent DLC in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Deathloop – purportedly set in the same universe – released in 2021. Following Arkane’s misstep with last year’s Redfall maybe a return to one of their success stories is just what they need (ignoring the fact Arkane Lyon currently working on Marvel’s Blade). A return to Dishonored is just the ticket; this stealth-orientated action-adventure series won a lot of fans following Dishonored 2’s release despite its component parts lacking distinction when viewed individually.

See, it’s freedom to approach objectives in a variety of ways isn’t unlike Hitman. It’s level design – whilst exceptional, of course – isn’t objectively better than Bioshock or any of FromSoftware’s offerings. Its story is arguably middling, its FPS combat relatively shallow. Yet, these elements coalesce beautifully to create a vibrant whole. Underpinned by fantastic stealth and – potentially the game’s biggest strength – its replayability, then there really hasn’t been anything like Dishonored 2 since.

Discussing deeper it’s replayability, now the point has already been made that the facets comprising Dishonored 2 aren’t all that unique on their own and justifiably its possession of high replay value doesn’t make it stand out above anything that’s been released since. Disco Elysium, for example, provides opportunities to solve its central mystery straight as an arrow or as an absolute train wreck, or some form of concoction blurring the two. NieR: Automata encourages you replay the story up to five times to experience the story from multiple perspectives, with numerous possible endings the result. Dishonored 2, however, does this but with much more.

Principal behind its replayability are its two central characters – royal guard, assassin, and protagonist from the first game, Corvo Attano, and dethroned Empress of the Empire of the Isles, daughter and protegee of Corvo, Emily Kaldwin. Following the undermining of Emily’s rule due to enigmatic The Crown Killer assassinating her political opponents and the resulting coup the player can then choose one or the other to complete the game. Their chosen character then escapes through picturesque seaside city Karnaca whilst the other is turned to stone; defeating conspirators, forging alliances, and rescuing their next of kin from rocky prison make up the bulk of ensuing narrative. Two playable characters equals two possible endings, of course, but it’s not just how the story concludes that encourages replayability. There are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes, and the same is true here. How you reach the story’s conclusion can vary wildly depending on the choices, playstyles, and approaches you employ with each character along the way.

High and low chaos playthroughs, calculated predominately on opponents indiscriminately killed alongside completing specific side objectives, influence places that are accessible, NPCs that are encounterable, plus the number of guards, rats, weepers, and bloodflies and their relative strengths and stature. Going further, you may opt for a pacifist run with either character, favouring non-lethal takedowns. Or, maybe a pure stealth run whereby you attempt to avoid enemy detection throughout the entire game. You could choose to eschew supernatural powers or use nothing but. Perhaps an all-guns blazing approach akin to FPS is your choice, even if the game isn’t well suited to this approach. It’s still a viable strategy.

This rampant choice of playthrough styles feeds into the game’s aforementioned freedom to explore different approaches whilst you wade through Dishonored 2’s levels (a facet unremarkable on its own remember). For example, your modes of traversal can differ greatly should you opt not to use supernatural power versus a run where you embrace them totally. Unsurprisingly, both Corvo and Emily have unique supernatural powers too. Corvo, a combatant more adept at silent infiltration than Emily, possesses the Blink ability granting him power to move forward rapidly. Emily, an assassin more accomplished with swords and gunfire, has the Far Reach ability enabling her to pull herself rapidly across a set distance. Whilst both abilities might perform a similar function at first glance it’s the possible upgrades that send them off into different directions. Corvo’s Blink ability can be upgraded to stop time or incapacitate enemies in its duration whilst Emily’s Far Reach upgrades involve pulling objects, corpses, or still living enemies towards her.

Further abilities see Corvo possessing and controlling host humans, or Emily adopting a shadowy, stealthier form. Corvo can summon rats to wipe out multiple enemies whilst Emily’s Domino ability chains humans together to wipe them out simultaneously. These supernatural powers are undeniably cool and together with the litany of stealthy methods of enemy takedown – the sabotaging of electrical appliances or the array of traps available, for instance – means you’re never short of differing approaches to explore.

Speaking of cool, special shoutout must go to Dishonored 2’s A Crack in the Slab mission and it’s Timepiece artefact. This artefact allows you to shift between two timelines within Aramis Stilton’s manor – the ruinous present-day contemporary to the game, and more lavish three years in the past. Now, Titanfall 2 had already experimented with a similar mechanic in its Effect and Cause level, but it wasn’t done with as much finesse as Dishonored 2’s attempt. Flicking up the Timepiece’s lens presents a window into the past. You can see guards patrolling an area as they did three years ago, then swiftly swipe into their timeline, eradicate them, change history, and traverse back to the present day. Taking actions in the past that have consequences in the future is the kind of head spinnery that belongs in a game like Dishonored 2. It’s enthralling, especially the first time.   

Interestingly though, despite its appeal the mission involving the Timepiece is the only one in the game that doesn’t encourage a multitude of approaches. Powers can’t be used, it’s the Timepiece and the Timepiece only. Still, as a mechanic its vastly underutilised in gaming and something which, should we ever see a Dishonored 3, Arkane would do well to refine and reuse.

Technical shortcomings plagued Dishonored 2’s launch on PC, but with a decent enough spec machine it should run absolutely fine in 2024, with ability to hit that maximum 120 fps. With the game occupying the lower end of the price scale, with regular discounts to boot, you’d be missing out were you not to give it a go, assuming you haven’t blasted through it multiple times already. There aren’t a lot of games like it. As already mentioned, its components don’t shine individually, but they combine exceptionally well. The Southern Mediterranean influenced coastal city of Karnaca has such a strong sense of place that it’s a joy to revisit. It’s just a shame the game’s story and associated character development weren’t up to the same standard as its stealth, supernatural powers, and world design, but these are things that Arkane can address in a follow, should one ever materialise.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

While some pointed at the failure of Redfall as the reason for the latter’s closure, former Arkane president and founder Raphael Colantino still feels it was “not a good decision.”

“I think if you look a little bit, it’s obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group that made some cool things and could pull it off again. I think it was a decision that came down to, ‘We need to cut something.’ Was it to please the investors, the stock market? They’re playing a different game,” said Colantino to PC Gamer.

Having left Arkane in 2017 and established WolfEye Studios, which released Weird West in 2022 (and is seemingly working on a new sci-fi RPG), Colantino says it’s “hard to know” why Microsoft shut down the studio. “The rules that they play, we might not understand them. It’s a different thing. It’s hard to know why they did what they did. The only thing that I stand by is saying that the specific choice of killing Arkane Austin was not a good decision.”

He also feels that recreating the studio’s magic will be impossible. “Recreating a very special group like that is, I would dare to say, impossible. It takes forever. When you have that magic of Harvey [Smith] and Ricardo [Bare] etc, that all come together, it’s a specific moment in time and space that just worked out this way, that took forever to reach. Those people together can really make magic.

“It’s not like, ‘Doesn’t matter, we’ll just rehire.’ No, try it. That’s what big groups do all the time. They try to just hire massively and overpay people to create those magic groups. It doesn’t work like this. So, to me, that was stupid. But what do I know?”

Though Arkane Austin is gone, Tango Gameworks was saved by Krafton, which acquired it and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Microsoft. The publisher has since hyped Hi-Fi Rush 2 as somewhat of an open-world experience with more “dynamic” environments. Work paused on the sequel due to Tango’s closure, but it will resume “soon.” Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.