Arkane Lyon's Blade game isn't dead, despite rumours following Xbox Games Showcase no-show

UPDATE 2.38pm: Arkane's Blade project has not been cancelled.

Since his earlier comments started making the rounds online, Jeff Grubb has shared a post on social media platform X saying it "sounds like there are reasons we haven't seen it, but those reasons are not because there are problems with the game". He assured Blade is "not dead", as he had previously suggested.

The original story continues below.

ORIGINAL: It sounds like the upcoming Marvel Blade game from Deathloop developer Arkane Lyon could be no more. Marvel's Blade was unveiled during The Game Awards 2023, when it was said this would be an original story for the half-human, half-vampire, as he takes on "a supernatural emergency" in the streets of Paris. That emergency is, of course, vampires.

"In Marvel's Blade, Eric Brooks is the legendary Daywalker, half-man, half-vampire torn between the warm society of the living and the rushing power of the undead," the official announcement blurb read.

However, beyond a little bit of concept artwork and a financial document which revealed that the game only entered full production towards the end of 2024, we haven't heard anything much about Arkane's Blade game, and according to Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb the project "might be dead". The insider - who correctly leaked that Gears of War: E-Day was skipping PS5 - added that Motive Studios' Iron Man game should still be in development, even if Blade potentially isn't.

Now, to be clear, this is just Grubb's word, and at the time of writing Blade is still listed on Arkane Studios' website and social media channels. Towards the end of last year, meanwhile, Arkane's studio director and co-creative director Dinga Bakaba said the team was "hard at work" on Blade, and everyone was "super proud and out doing themselves" on the project.

"Please be patient," Bakaba said in December, "it will be a special game and we all hope it will be meeting the high standards that we set for ourselves and for you all." Eurogamer has asked Bakaba for comment on Blade's development, and will update you if we hear more.

Image credit: Arkane Studios

Elsewhere in super hero-related news, we recently learned that Amy Hennig's Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is playable, but won't be out for some time. "We're continuing development on it, but Amy [Hennig] and the team have big ambitions for the level of quality that they want to hit," Shawn Kittelsen, senior vice president, and head of creative and production at Paramount Games Studio, said this week.