MachineGames co-founder Jerk Gustafsson has been appointed as the President of Marvel’s Blade developer Arkane Studios amid the ongoing restructuring at Xbox.
According to French legal and business information platform Pappers Enterprises (via bogorad222 on Twitter/X), Marvel’s Blade developer Arkane Studios has undergone a leadership change on June 30, 2026, with MachineGames co-founder Jerk Gustafsson replacing Leonard Bendel as the studio’s President after the latter’s resignation on the same day. This raises questions about the developer’s future amid the ongoing restructuring, dubbed a “reset,” at Xbox.
The announcement states, “Pursuant to the decisions of the sole shareholder dated June 30, 2026, it was decided to appoint Mr. Jerk GUSTAFSSON as Chairman, replacing Mr. Leonard BENDEL, who resigned, effective the same date.”
With the team at Arkane Austin shut down on May 7, 2024, Arkane Studio is now fully comprised of the team at Arkane Lyon. The latter has closely collaborated with MachineGames in the past, having worked on the level design for Wolfenstein: Youngblood as well as environment art and animation work for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Menawhile, MachineGames did environment and additional 3D art for Deathloop. This could be a sign of a merger between the two development teams under Arkane Studios.
During a recent episode of the Giant Bombcast, co-host and industry insider Jeff Grubb discussed the current status of Marvel’s Blade, suggesting that the game is quite far along in development, and may even be ready for release next year in 2027, but Xbox doesn’t appear to want to pay for further development. He added that the issue wasn’t necessarily the quality of the game, but rather Microsoft’s willingness to continue funding its development. “It does sound like it needed more time and they just don’t want to pay for that.”
Marvel’s Blade was announced with a cinematic trailer during The Game Awards on December 7, 2023.
