Shadowrun is 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, Shadowrun has never attained the heights of other tabletop franchises like Dungeons and Dragons, lacking a standout AAA hit. Instead, Shadowrun has catered to the niche of tactical RPG fans in recent years. That may be changing, however, as some industry reporting has hinted that Shadowrun could 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 which Microsoft IP he'd bring back and what studio should make it, while referencing an Arkane Lyon poll on social media that mentions Shadowrun. To the surprise of his co-host and listeners, Grubb says that he's actually heard "rumblings" of a possible Shadowrun return.
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 that Shadowrun is making a comeback. He's only heard "rumblings," which he doesn't elaborate on. "I've heard maybe Shadowrun is 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 from Arkane Lyon game director Dinga Bakaba, who led the development of Deathloop. Following the conclusion of Deathloop'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 were Star Wars: Jedi Knight, Dune, Breakdown, and Shadowrun.
Shadowrun is, oddly enough, a license that Microsoft owns, which means it's possible for Arkane Lyon to now make a Shadowrun game if 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, Shadowrun fans are, 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 AAA Shadowrun game release any easier.
A Shadowrun game at Xbox Game Studios is rumored to be in development.