"Just Not Profitable Enough for Microsoft," Says Arkane Lyon's Union

The union at Arkane Lyon, the Microsoft-owned studio behind Dishonored and Deathloop, says the studio is profitable, just not profitable enough for Microsoft, which it accuses of manufacturing the case for closing it ^[3][1].

The Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), France's video game workers' union, published its statement on November 4, 2026. It is titled "Arkane Studios might close without having ever seen failure," and it says the studio might close because Microsoft decided to close it ^[3].

The accusations are the union's, and the statement gives no audited figures for Arkane's profits ^[3]. Microsoft's only public reply so far is that it is exploring options and seeking a partner ^[4]. The fight is real and the outcome is open. A sale, a management buyout or a closure are all still possible.

What the union alleges

The STJV makes two specific charges. The first is that Microsoft froze hiring at Arkane for 19 months, which caused the delays and extra costs that the company now cites as reasons to shut the studio ^[3].

The second concerns where the money went. According to the union, Arkane's remaining cash was systematically moved to the wider Microsoft group through a cash-pooling mechanism ^[3]. That is a treasury arrangement in which the spare money of a group's companies is swept into one common account, so a subsidiary can be profitable on paper and still hold little of its own.

On the game itself, the union is upbeat. It says work on Marvel's Blade is going well and that the game is on track to reach the quality Arkane's players expect ^[1][3]. That is the union's own assessment, and nobody outside the studio has verified it.

If the studio closes, 217 Arkane workers could lose their jobs, the union says, as well as contractors, freelancers and technicians ^[3].

Microsoft's position

Microsoft has not called Arkane a failure. It told IGN that it is exploring options for the studio, keeping the works council and employees informed, and actively seeking a partner to support the next phase of development and commercialisation of the project ^[4].

The wording is about the project, meaning Blade, and says little about the studio. The union has noticed. It wants any deal to protect Arkane beyond one game, since its workers say they want to finish Blade and keep making games in Lyon ^[3][4].

The union says Microsoft granted an additional month for the consultation process ^[3]. Rock Paper Shotgun reports that the parties now have until December 13 to reach a deal ^[1].

Who might buy it

Bloomberg reported that Ubisoft and at least two other gaming companies have made offers for Arkane, and that Xbox also considered selling the studio to its own management, according to Aftermath's account of that report ^[2]. Microsoft has not confirmed any of this, and the other bidders are unnamed.

The union is asking for a say in who wins. It wants worker and union input into the choice of a buyer, and a fund to protect staff laid off for economic reasons within 24 months of a sale ^[1][3].

If Arkane closes anyway, the STJV wants €200,000 in redundancy pay, two years of redeployment support, resources for training and for creating new studios, and a residual bonus. It also wants compensation for independent workers whose contracts would be broken ^[1][3].

The union calls Microsoft's existing redundancy offer inadequate. It argues that the games industry's weak job market makes long support especially important ^[3][4].

A pattern, and a margin

This is not the first time Microsoft has closed an Arkane studio. It shut Arkane Austin, a separate studio, in 2024 ^[1][2]. The Daily Inference reported in October that Asha Sharma had told staff the Xbox division had "started to return to growth" while more than 1,800 Xbox jobs were gone and a studio faced closure.

Put those facts side by side. A division that says it is growing is also weighing the end of a studio with a 25-year history and successful games, as the union describes it ^[3]. The union's phrase "just not profitable enough for Microsoft" is the sharpest line in the dispute ^[1], and it names the logic that now runs through much of the industry. A studio no longer has to lose money to be at risk. It only has to earn less than the owner wants.

That logic has a cost the spreadsheet misses. Arkane is among the few big studios whose games feel authored. Dishonored and Deathloop are what people mean when they ask for mid-budget originality from a corporate owner. The union says the studio might close "without having ever seen failure" ^[3], and if its account of the hiring freeze is right, the delays now held against Arkane were made upstairs. That account cannot be tested from outside, and Microsoft has so far offered only its partner search in reply ^[4].

The union's sums may be unprovable from outside, but the question they raise is plain. Closing the studio means paying 217 people to leave ^[3] and walking away from a Marvel game that the union says is going well ^[1][3]. A sale or management deal keeps both. Microsoft's own statement says it is looking for a partner ^[4], which suggests it sees value in what Arkane is building.

What to watch

The first thing to watch is whether Microsoft confirms any of the reported bids or names a buyer. The second is whether it moves on the union's demands for a say in choosing a buyer, a protection fund and a bigger severance package. Neither has happened so far.

The consultation with Arkane's works council runs to December 13 ^[1][3].