Shadowrunis a tabletop role-playing game franchise with a long history in video games, with eight games released over a span of nearly 30 years. Despite that,Shadowrunhas never attained the heights of other tabletop franchises likeDungeons and Dragons, lacking a standout AAA hit. Instead,Shadowrunhas catered to the niche of tactical RPG fans in recent years. That may be changing, however, as some industry reporting has hinted thatShadowruncould be coming back soon.
The key report comes from GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb during a recent episode of his Game Mess podcast. Grubb doesn’t bring up the topic himself, but rather responds in an interesting way to a reader question. He’s asked whichMicrosoft IPhe’d bring back and what studio should make it, while referencing an Arkane Lyon poll on social media that mentionsShadowrun. To the surprise of his co-host and listeners, Grubb says that he’s actually heard “rumblings” of a possibleShadowrunreturn.
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Before Deckers start celebrating, Grubb goes out of his way to encourage listeners to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism on the topic. He clarifies that he does not have confirmation thatShadowrunis making a comeback. He’s only heard “rumblings,” which he doesn’t elaborate on. “I’ve heard maybeShadowrunis happening, but I don’t know who’s making it,” are Grubb’s exact words on the matter. Some corroborating reporting seems necessary before saying anything for certain.
The idea came up in the first place due to a tweet fromArkane Lyon game director Dinga Bakaba, who led the development ofDeathloop. Following the conclusion ofDeathloop’s development, Bakaba moved into the Studio Director position at Arkane Lyon. Bakaba quote retweeted a post asking “What game series would you resurrect if you could?” with four game franchises listed. The video game series that Bakaba listed wereStar Wars: Jedi Knight,Dune,Breakdown, andShadowrun.
Shadowrunis, oddly enough, a license that Microsoft owns, which means it’s possible for Arkane Lyon to now make aShadowrungameif it wanted to. Bakaba may not have known that and could very well just be listing franchises that he is a fan of. As the Studio Director of a Microsoft studio deciding on its next project, however, he probably knows.
Without further evidence,Shadowrunfansare, as they were prior, left speculating about what the future could bring. Any news is better than no news, though. But that isn’t going to make the next several years waiting for a possible AAAShadowrungame release any easier.
AShadowrungame at Xbox Game Studios is rumored to be in development.
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