Arkane Union Says Xbox Sabotaged Development on Marvel's Blade - News
by William D'Angelo , posted 34 minutes ago / 170 Views
French union Syndicat des travailleureuses du jeu vidéo (STJV) in a statement has claimed Microsoft sabotaged development on Arkane Studio's Marvel's Blade due to a hiring freeze.
The union says development is "going fine" and it is on track to meet Arkane's usual quality. However, it argues the hiring freeze has led to delays and extra costs, which Microsoft is citing as a reason to shut down or sell the studio.
"Today, as work on Blade is going fine, and that the level of quality of the game to be expected is on part 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," said the union.
"After we warned the press about the situation 2 weeks ago, Microsoft has deigned grant us an extra month for the process.This is a step forward, the proof that can do better, but it is far from enough.
"STJV is today alerting on the risks our company is in, as well as the ones the workers are in: while the choice of getting ride of Arkane inflicted an insane amount of pressure to workers, due having to endure the strain of the production, the stress of the look for a buyer and the anxiety to see their job endangered all at once; the resources provided in the redundancy plan remain outrageously low. Even more when considering that the tech giant decided on its own and without any valid ground to destroy the life of hundreds of workers."
The union added, "Microsoft chose to justify the closure on economic reasons. 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 use those same delay and additional cost as a reason to close down the studio. And that is even before talking about financial ressources : how not to be a “cost centre” when our previous games, which combined have sold tenth of millions, aren’t anywhere to be found in the company results? Or how Arkane cash pool is always low as any remaining cash is systematically funneled to the group through a cash pooling mecanic. Even this closure itself is done against any financial logic, as closing Arkane today would probably be more expensive than finishing the game.
"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. 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.
"So indeed, 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."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
