Two-and-a-half years after it was announced at the 2023 Game Awards, The Verge reports Arkane Studios’ Blade video game might be canceled by its parent company Xbox, with the Microsoft division allegedly contemplating either laying off the entire studio, or selling it off. The site says the game’s delay to late 2027, coupled with the increasing budget, painted a target on Arkane’s back, with Microsoft seeking to “reset” Xbox’s fortunes after sales of the Series X/S consoles fell significantly behind those of the PlayStation 5.
Under their newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma, Xbox is also currently planning to lay off or sell Compulsion Games (South of Midnight), Double Fine (Psychonauts), Ninja Theory (the Hellblade series), and Undead Labs (State of Decay), and lay offs across all of its game studios are set to begin on Monday, July 6. Arkane, whose prior credits include the Dishonored series, 2017’s Prey, and Deathloop, came into Xbox’s possession after it acquired their owner, ZeniMax Media, in 2021. The developer, which is based in Lyon, France, also operated a studio in Austin, Texas, that was closed in 2024.
If Blade is canceled, it will continue an unfortunate trend of superhero games with more diverse protagonists being canceled in development, along with their creators all being laid off, following the similar fates that befell Monolith Productions and their Wonder Woman game, and Cliffhanger Studios and its Black Panther game, in 2025. Two Marvel games with Black leads are still in development though: Paramount’s 1943: Rise of HYDRA, featuring the Azzuri version of Black Panther, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man 3, starring Miles Morales.
Blade himself is currently playable in NetEase’s popular free-to-play multiplayer extravaganza Marvel Rivals, and will be playable in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, due out on PC and PS5 on August 6. (He is also playable in Midnight Suns, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.) However, this game’s possible cancellation would continue a mixed series of fortunes for the character, who doesn’t currently have his own comic book series, and whose long-gestating MCU movie, starring Mahershala Ali, has been delayed indefinitely.
Perhaps Wesley Snipes‘s Blade was actually right, when he said in Deadpool & Wolverine, “There’s only ever gonna be one Blade.” It would be funny, if this apparent curse wasn’t reportedly set to affect Arkane’s employees too.
