Despite the troubles with Marvel Studios’ Blade, Xbox’s upcoming Blade video game seems to be progressing well. The gaming industry has recently been capitalizing on the superhero boom of the last decade with new games based on Marvel and DC’s biggest icons. Batman, Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Wolverine have all or are getting big budget AAA video games that rival some of the best single player video games on the market. PlayStation has had the exclusive rights to Spider-Man since 2018, meaning there hasn’t been a new Spider-Man game on Xbox since 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. However, Xbox has attained its own Marvel hero for an exclusive title.
It was announced last year that Dishonored and Deathloop developer Arkane Studios is developing Blade, a brand new third-person action game following the beloved vampire hunter in Paris. Not much else is known about the game and it’s still in the fairly early stages of development, but it sounds as if it’s progressing pretty well. Xbox boss Phil Spencer posted to Threads about a recent visit to the studio and noted that he enjoyed seeing the studio’s progress on Blade. Of course, if the game was in some dire state (which isn’t always out of the question for Xbox’s games), Spencer would’ve likely neglected to mention it.
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While Phil Spencer made this post as part of a celebration for the 25th anniversary of Arkane, it’s likely the post was prompted by some other news. Arkane’s anniversary was on October 1st, so Spencer’s post is belated. The post seems to be at least partially prompted by the fact Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated Blade movie has been indefinitely delayed. The movie was announced in summer 2019 with Mahershala Ali set to play the titular role. Unfortunately, the movie has been delayed multiple times now and has undergone a handful of creative overhauls with different writers and directors. Many have begun to fear the project will get scrapped and those fears have only become heightened following the news that Blade was removed from Disney’s release schedule.
It’s possible Blade will still see the light of day, but the project has had a hellish development and left many wondering why Marvel is struggling to make a movie with a character that was done brilliantly in the 90s and 2000s. Blade himself is seeing a bit of a resurgence following a cameo in Deadpool and Wolverine, so a new film and game would be a great one-two punch for the character. However, it seems fans may just have to settle for a new video game.
Arkane Studios’ Blade will not be the first video game based on the character, but it will certainly be the flashiest as it won’t serve as a tie-in for a film. The developer is known for its violent and satisfying first-person combat, but it will be opting for a more traditional third-person approach for Blade. Only time will tell how the game turns out, but it’s going to be a game that Xbox will want to nail as it’s a major IP and will allow the platform the opportunity to rival Marvel’s Spider-Man.