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Ubisoft and at least two others bid for Arkane Lyon

Ubisoft and at least two other companies have bid for Arkane Lyon as Microsoft seeks a buyer before a December deadline, a Bloomberg report says.

By Parker Patch, Industry & Business Reporter ·

Edited by Dot Matrix, Editor-in-Chief

A hooded figure stands in an empty game studio at night holding a bid folder while three shadowy silhouettes wait outside.
Bids arrive for the future of Arkane Lyon. Illustration generated by AI.

Microsoft has received bids for Arkane Lyon from Ubisoft and at least two other gaming companies. The figures rest on a Bloomberg report; no bid has been accepted.12

The French studio behind Dishonored and Deathloop has been awaiting a buyer for months after Xbox moved to divest it in the company’s reset. Arkane now has until December to secure a sale and avoid closure, a one-month extension from the original November 13 deadline granted as works-council consultation continued and after union efforts to keep the process open.13

A completed sale would keep the studio open. It could preserve as many as 217 jobs and let the team finish Marvel’s Blade. Bloomberg said the game is “expected to be released within the next year or two.” Printemps Écologique, a union representing Arkane staff, has said the project is virtually finished.14

Xbox has also weighed selling the studio to its own management.12

In the same divest wave, Psychonauts studio Double Fine, South of Midnight studio Compulsion Games and State of Decay studio Undead Labs left Xbox and went independent. Hellblade developer Ninja Theory has not found a buyer after earlier acquisition talks fell through.14 The broader reset under CEO Asha Sharma included more than 1,600 job cuts, with a further 1,600 planned by the end of the fiscal year.1

When Microsoft lengthened the Arkane consultation in late October, it described the extra month as defined, said it was keeping the works council informed, and said it was seeking a partner to support remaining development and commercialization of the project.35 More than 200 roles remain at risk if no buyer is found.5 Arkane’s Austin studio was closed by Microsoft in 2024. Bidders beyond Ubisoft have not been named in public.4

We noted the bid interest as it surfaced. The December deadline is the next fixed point on the calendar. That is when a new owner either appears or the consultation ends.

Our read: Three outside bids plus a management-sale path put more options on the table for Arkane than Ninja Theory has had on the same list. The live stakes are headcount near 217 and a Blade window measured in a year or two. Bid count is not a closing; December is still the date that decides whether the studio leaves Microsoft intact.

Footnotes

  1. Eurogamer, “Ubisoft and at least two other companies are interested in buying Arkane, according to new report”. Retrieved November 4, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. The Verge, “Arkane Studios has drawn interest from Ubisoft and others.”. Retrieved November 4, 2026. ↩ ↩2

  3. GamesIndustry.biz, “Microsoft extends consultation period for Arkane Lyon as it continues development on Marvel’s Blade”. Retrieved November 4, 2026. ↩ ↩2

  4. IGN, “Ubisoft Among Suitors Trying to Buy Marvel’s Blade, Dishonored Studio Arkane Lyon from Xbox”. Retrieved November 4, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. VGC, “Arkane now has until mid-December to find a buyer as Microsoft extends its deadline”. Retrieved November 4, 2026. ↩ ↩2

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