Arkane Lyon draws three bids, including Ubisoft, from Microsoft

A deadline of 13 December

Arkane is up for sale as part of the Xbox "reset" launched on 6 July by Asha Sharma, who has led the division since February. She announced around 3,200 job cuts by the end of June 2027, 1,600 of them that same day, and the departure of four studios. Xbox has since cut another 268 positions.

Arkane was handled separately because French law requires consulting the works council, the CSE, before such a restructuring. The Florange law of 2014 also obliges a group with at least 1,000 employees that wants to close a site to look for a buyer. The consultation was due to end on 13 November, but Microsoft extended it by a month, to 13 December, to explore options, including a partner able to help finish Blade. An Xbox spokesperson confirmed the company is weighing its options ahead of a December deadline, without further comment.

Ubisoft, itself in cost-cutting mode

The terms of the offers are unknown and Xbox has not agreed a deal with any buyer. Sources nonetheless believe a sale is now far more likely than a closure, and that a deal would probably let Arkane finish Marvel's Blade, which is expected within one to two years and still has no release date.

Ubisoft is itself under pressure. On 21 January 2026 it announced the cancellation of six games and expected an operating loss of about 1 billion euros for fiscal 2025-2026. It also closed its Halifax and Stockholm studios this year. It did not comment on the reports.

Without a buyer, the planned timetable still holds, with a two-stage closure starting at the end of 2026 and continuing in the first quarter of 2027. Arkane, founded in Lyon in 1999, also made Deathloop and belongs to ZeniMax Media, parent of Bethesda, which Microsoft bought in 2021. Its sister studio Arkane Austin closed in 2024 after Redfall flopped.