Ubisoft looking to buy Deathloop’s Arkane Lyon from Xbox claims report

| Games News Writer Published November 4, 2026 12:14pm Updated November 4, 2026 12:14pm Looping around France’s labour laws (Bethesda) The studio behind Deathloop and Dishonored could be saved from potential closure by Ubisoft, as other companies make a bid for the Xbox developer. Xbox’s sweeping job cuts have already impacted 1,868 people since July, with 3,200 people set to lose their jobs in total by the end of June next year. As part of these cuts, Xbox severed ties with several studios, namely Double Fine, Compulsion Games, and Undead Labs. At the moment though, there are two studios with an uncertain future: Hellblade’s Ninja Theory and Arkane Lyon, the studio best known for Deathloop and Dishonored. The latter’s situation is more complicated because of France’s stricter employment laws, which means Xbox management has to consult on any major restructuring with an in-office work council made up of employees at the studio. As such, negotiations have been ongoing to find a buyer, with the deadline recently extended from November to December 13, 2026. According to a new report on Bloomberg, multiple companies have made offers to Microsoft to acquire Arkane Lyon, who are currently close to completion on a new game based on Marvel’s Blade. It’s claimed one of these companies is Ubisoft, which, like Arkane Lyon, is based in France. From a geographical perspective it makes sense and the two companies have worked together in the past, on 2006’s Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic for the Xbox 360, but Ubisoft isn’t exactly in the best financial situation, having restructured its operations with a new subsidiary last year. Want GTA 6 news? Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week. The report doesn’t name any other companies who have made bids, but it’s claimed there are ‘at least two other gaming companies’ in contention. Additionally, it’s claimed Xbox is considering selling Arkane Lyon to its own management, which would make the studio independent like Double Fine and Compulsion Games. If a deal is reached with another company, it’s unclear if the Dishonored or Deathloop IP’s will be packaged in, or what the fate of Marvel’s Blade might be. It’s reportedly close to completion but whoever buys Arkane may not be willing to pay for the expensive Marvel licence if it needs to be reacquired. While any funding to secure the studio’s future is the primary goal, both paths have their downsides. A Ubisoft acquisition doesn’t guarantee Arkane Lyon will be working on more Dishonored games, while going solo would almost certainly result in layoffs (as it did with Double Fine) and an uneasy scramble for funding from other publishers. If anything though, Arkane Lyon seems to be in a better position than the UK-based Ninja Theory, which is reportedly facing closure after multiple acquisition deals fell through. The house of Rayman may acquire Arkane Lyon (Ubisoft) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake review – a link to the future Arrow MORE: 007 First Light is 50% off in massive PlayStation Store Black Friday sale Arrow MORE: GTA 6 physical map has to be bought separately and won’t be in boxed copies GameCentral Get the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.