Marvel's Blade Reportedly Has Over $100 Million Budget

Marvel's Blade (Image Credit: Arkane Lyon/Bethesda)

Arkane Lyon’s upcoming Marvel’s Blade game is reportedly operating on a budget exceeding $100 million, as revealed in a publicly available report from the French National Assembly.

While not named directly in the report, the project’s timeline and details strongly suggest it refers to Marvel’s Blade, which was officially announced at The Game Awards in late 2023.

The report, brought to light by journalist Kilian Fichou and Wikipedia editor Timur222, discusses tax credits for video game companies operating in France. Arkane Studios, a French developer known for titles like Dishonored and Deathloop, fits squarely within the scope of the report.

The document references a new game approved in 2023 with a projected expenditure of 94 million euros — roughly $109 million — between 2023 and 2026. Of that, 91 million euros (around $106 million) is expected to be spent within France.

Although there's always a possibility Arkane could be working on another unannounced project, Marvel’s Blade is currently the only confirmed game in development from the studio. Earlier this month, Arkane confirmed that Blade has officially moved into full production at the end of 2024, following the successful validation of its prototype.

Set in a quarantined Paris overwhelmed by a supernatural outbreak, Marvel’s Blade places players in the role of Eric Brooks — the half-human, half-vampire known as Blade. It will be a single-player, third-person action game — a significant departure from Arkane’s usual first-person perspective. Despite the shift in gameplay design, the studio’s reputation for crafting immersive and atmospheric experiences gives fans hope that Blade will deliver something special.

While the budget may sound massive, it’s still dwarfed by other recent Marvel titles. For example, a leaked Insomniac Games document from late 2023 revealed that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had a development budget of approximately $315 million. Future Insomniac projects like Spider-Man 3 and Wolverine are expected to be even more expensive, reportedly coming in at $385 million and $305 million, respectively.

That said, a higher budget doesn’t always guarantee a better game — though Spider-Man 2 did turn out to be one of the most acclaimed PS5 releases so far.

Blade remains a mystery in terms of gameplay footage and release timeline. There’s currently no official release window, and with production only recently beginning, it’s likely we won’t see the game hit shelves anytime soon.

The news of Blade's continued development comes at a tense time for Xbox Game Studios. A number of other internal projects have been cancelled or shelved, including Perfect Dark, Everwild, and a rumored MMORPG from ZeniMax. Additionally, Arkane Austin — the team behind the critically panned Redfall — was shut down last year, adding more pressure on Arkane Lyon to deliver.

Source: GamesRadar