Disney chimed in on the platform exclusivity questions about Marvel's Blade, clarifying that the game's choice of target platforms is completely up to Bethesda. While its comments on the matter do offer both direct and indirect insight into the project, they alone won't be enough to clear up the confusion that the Marvel's Blade announcement caused among the fandom.

The new Blade game from Dishonored developer Arkane Studios was announced on December 7, as part of The Game Awards 2023 show. The reveal arrived in the form of an 83-second CGI teaser which ended on the game's logo, with no mention of its target platforms. This prompted widespread speculation that Marvel's Blade might be coming to PlayStation, even though it's being developed and published by subsidiaries of Microsoft-owned ZeniMax Media.

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Xbox Leaker Addresses Blade Exclusivity Confusion

A noteworthy Xbox insider weighs in on the confusion surrounding the newly-announced Blade game and what consoles it will be available on.

Whether this will actually end up happening is entirely up to Bethesda, Axios's Stephen Totilo reports, citing a statement from a Disney representative. The list of the game's target platforms will thus apparently stay up in the air for a while yet, not least because Bethesda has already outright refused to comment on Xbox exclusivity questions about Marvel's Blade.

Between Bethesda's refusal to commit to any target platforms and Disney's newly shared clarification on the matter, it is plausible that Marvel's Blade has only just entered pre-production. With the average AAA development cycle being around five years long these days, the game might actually end up missing the current console generation, which could explain the lack of platform mentions in its video teaser. The fact that the reveal video included a "now in development" tagline also tracks with the theory that the work on Marvel's Blade has only just begun.

But even if the project is still in its infancy, that alone might not have been reason enough for Bethesda to have omitted a generic Xbox logo from its reveal trailer. And although Microsoft allows a great deal of autonomy to its game studios, it's still somewhat unlikely that platform branding was omitted from the game's teaser without the company's explicit approval or direction.

Not Even Bethesda Might Know Marvel's Blade Target Platforms

The recent legal drama surrounding the now-completed Activision Blizzard acquisition revealed that Bethesda itself is sometimes confused with Microsoft's platform strategy. So, while it remains to be seen whether Marvel's Blade ends up coming to PlayStation, it is plausible that not even Bethesda can answer that question right now. But if Microsoft's track record is any indication, Arkane Studios' upcoming title does have all the makings of an Xbox console exclusive.

Marvel's Blade

Marvel's Blade is in development at Arkane Lyon, which developed Deathloop and Dishonored. It is a mature single-player third-person adventure game set in Paris, where players take on the role of the titular and beloved comic book hero.

Franchise

Marvel

Developer(s)

Arkane Studios

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks