Development on Marvel’s Blade at Arkane Lyon is “going fine,” but the studio is still at risk of closure “because, and only because, Microsoft decided to, even if that means sabotaging the game it funded,” according to a new statement.
This comes today from Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo, a union of workers at Arkane, in a pretty scathing statement about the publisher’s ongoing attempts to sell the studio as part of its “reset” throughout the year, or close it entirely.
“Microsoft chose to justify the closure on economic reasons,” the statement continued. “But Microsoft is actually why those economic reasons even exist. Because after freezing hiring for 19 months, which artificially caused delay and additional cost, Microsoft now uses those same delay and additional cost as a reason to close down the studio.”
Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Ubisoft and two other companies are in the bidding for Arkane, which has found success in the past with franchises like Dishonored and Prey. Marvel’s Blade was revealed nearly three years ago but hasn’t been heard from since.
“The truth is that Microsoft based its decision only on stone cold and inhuman logic, in which our lives, projects and dreams are voided, so we can better serve Microsoft’s short term financial goals,” the statement said. “In the wake of thousands of yearly firings, studio closure to which you can now add the tenth of thousands of voluntary buyout offered by the company, the decision to close Arkane is solely the brutal application of a never-ending search for maximum profit optimization. Arkane is profitable. Just not profitable enough for Microsoft.”
The prevailing thought is that if Microsoft doesn’t find a suitable offer for Arkane, the studio will close down, and Blade may end up canceled in a similar situation to EA closing down BioWare and ending development on Mass Effect Universe last month.
“Even this closure itself is done against any financial logic, as closing Arkane today would probably be more expensive than finishing the game,” the statement said, and closed with a list of demands:
- To give employees control over the decisions that shape their future:
- Go beyond the mandatory Work Council consultation, and actually give employees representative & unions a say in the discussion to choose a potential buyer.
- Setup a protection fund for employees on the level of the PSE compensation in case workers get fired for economic reasons by the buyer in 24 following months.
- Should Arkane close, to release funds commensurate with Microsoft’s status as a corporation, to make sure that the workers are compensated in line with the loss suffered :
- A redundancy payment of 200K€.
- Two years’ redeployment support funded by Microsoft.
- The introduction of shared resources for training and studio creation, with a residual bonus to enable all employees to look to the future with confidence.
- Compensation up to the redundancy payment for independent workers’ contract breach.
