Union workers at Arkane Studios claim owner Microsoft has sabotaged the development of its Marvel's Blade game and used the resulting costs and delays as justification to close the studio.
A scathing new letter from the Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) video game union worries "Arkane Studios might close without having ever seen failure." (Microsoft previously closed US dev Arkane Austin following the failure of Redfall, a live service game that the single-player-focused studio was evidently saddled with under Xbox leadership.)
"Our studio might get closed because, and only because, Microsoft decided to, even if that means sabotaging the game it funded," the union claims.
"Microsoft chose to close Arkane," the letter adds. "Microsoft chose to justify the closure on economic reasons. But Microsoft is actually why those economic reasons even exist. Because after freezing hiring for 19 months, which artificially caused delay and additional cost, Microsoft now use those same delay and additional cost as a reason to close down the studio."
The union claims Arkane is understaffed, underfunded, and unfairly assessed, and calls "the resources provided in the redundancy plan" proposed "outrageously low." The union is demanding employee representation and a say "in the discussion to choose a potential buyer," as well as "a protection fund for employees on the level of the PSE compensation in case workers get fired for economic reasons."
If Arkane does close, the union demands employee compensation "commensurate with Microsoft’s status as a corporation," which it tallies at "a redundancy payment of 200K€, two years’ redeployment support funded by Microsoft," and "shared resources for training and studio creation, with a residual bonus to enable all employees to look to the future with confidence."
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