Video Games
Arkane Lyon Reportedly Facing Closure, ‘Marvel’s Blade’ to be Cancelled
After yesterday’s news that Undead Labs is rumoured to be facing potential closure (and potentially taking State of Decay 3 with it), another Microsoft studio is facing a similar situation in Arkane Lyon, which is currently developing a title based on Marvel’s Blade.
According to a new report by The Verge, which cites sources familiar with the situation surrounding Xbox and Microsoft, the computer giant is reportedly considering closing Arkane Lyon, joining Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Ninja Theory. However, Microsoft is also considering selling the studio.
Despite that hope for Arkane Lyon, that reportedly doesn’t apply to Marvel’s Blade, which is facing cancellation by Microsoft. The game was announced back in 2023 at The Game Awards, and was supposed to debut later this year. However, the game’s release has now slipped to “late 2027”, and has also ran over its projected budget.
While all the studios involved have been trying to find buyers in order to avoid closure, South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games has already begun telling employees to look for jobs elsewhere. Meanwhile, Ninja Theory, which had its third entry in the Hellblade series announced during Summer Game Fest in Senua, has already told employees that Microsoft wants to close the studio or sell it.
Not much information on Marvel’s Blade was revealed, other than it was a third-person title to be set in a quarantined section of Paris in the middle of a supernatural emergency. Vampires have emerged, terrorizing the city of lights and forcing Parisians to shelter inside their homes at night to wait for sunrise. It’s up to the Daywalker known as Blade to investigate.
Kinetic Games has followed through with the 13 Willow Street map rework for Phasmophobia today, which is free across all platforms. Accompanying the map rework is the first of two major quality-of-life updates bringing hundreds of bug fixes and helping refine the gameplay experience.
Ghost hunters can prepare for a refreshed investigation experience with the reworked Willow map, adding a host of new paranormal interactions, objects, and hiding spaces. As with the most recent overhaul to 6 Tanglewood Drive, Willow retains an almost identical layout but features redesigned rooms, including a reconfigured basement layout, bringing the gameplay experience up to the team’s current development standards.
The reworked rooms include an art studio, home gym and entertainment room, replacing the bedroom, garage and basement previously featured in the haunted house. Alongside these visual updates, curious players will be able to uncover new lore hidden throughout Willow, piecing together a story waiting to be discovered.
“As part of the 13 Willow Street rework we’re continuing our approach to storytelling in Phasmophobia and developing the game’s narrative,” said Anastatia Dukakis, Senior Narrative Designer at Kinetic Games. “It’s always exciting to see the community make new discoveries together and we love seeing everyone share their theories and thoughts on the lore behind in-game locations.”
Players will also be tasked to correctly identify (and survive) 50 ghosts as part of map’s challenge, awarding the Sun Seeker ID set upon completion. Players can also unlock the Cool Cat ID card and badge for the first week after launch, by watching 2 hours of Phasmophobia streams.
Meanwhile, the major update accompanying the map rework is inspired by community feedback following the Player Character Update, and reflects Kinetic Games’ ongoing commitment to delivering the level of quality players expect before Phasmophobia leaves Early Access.
The update introduces a range of changes helping to refine the gameplay experience with refreshed animations allowing for smoother and quicker movements, and changes to evidence collection for a more seamless experience, and ghost hunters might also face a new presence lurking in the shadows…
New keybinds have also been added with players now able to use 1,2,3 and 4 for changing inventory slots alongside wider accessibility tweaks. For an overview of all the fixes landing in-game, you can check out the blog post here.
Phasmophobia is available in Early Access on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2, and the Xbox Series.