According to a recent Bloomberg report, developer Rocksteady is currently looking to make a new Single-Player Batman game which would be a welcome news not only for fans of the original Arkham trilogy but also for gaming in general.
Speaking in a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav has confirmed that Warner Bros. is currently focusing development on only four games including a possible sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC, “in particular Batman.”
“We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio,” Zaslav stated.
Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham trilogy was not just a phenomenal and timeless trifecta of games but they’ve also left their mark on the Videogame industry in unforgettable ways and one of them is the series’ signature Freeflow Combat system which was adopted by many other acclaimed games across multiple genres. The blueprint found in most third-person-action-adventure titles of today wouldn’t have been the same without Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series of games.
But it may be still too early to get particularly excited on this news cause of several reasons. Firstly, Rocksteady is not nearly the same studio that it was during the development of those iconic games with a large number of devs left long ago and many of them are currently working on whole different projects under other studios.
And secondly, a new Batman game in the same continuity would be quite doubtful given the events of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, so it may be that the studio is looking to explore alternative versions of the Caped Crusader or other new possibilities that we haven’t seen before. But either way, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get the continuation of the same great Arkham-verse we loved back in the earlier games. And whatever new form it takes, it’s still years away. Though one thing’s for certain, a new Batman game from Rocksteady can surely steer Warner Bros. to financial success which the publisher is in dire need of.
Also as per the Bloomberg report, Monolith’s Wonder Woman title is also going through development issues with the game reportedly getting an entire reboot as well as switching directors early in 2024. The upcoming game’s development has also seen changes to one of it’s key gameplay mechanics which is Monolith’s Nemesis system that was implemented in both Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel. The game has also reportedly cost more than $100 million so far and is still years away from getting a release.
