Fear not Batman fans, more games based on The Caped Crusader are on the way. The superhero genre has had a massive shift in the last 15 years or so thanks to major changes in film and gaming. What was once a genre defined by hit or miss cash grabs with an occasional rare gem is now a total juggernaut across multiple mediums. The likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Christopher Nolan’s Batman films have caused superheroes to skyrocket in popularity and forced the gaming industry to do more with them than mediocre movie tie-in games. Now, we get games like the Batman Arkham series, the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, all of which are critically acclaimed and top-tier premium titles.
Of course, there still have been some large scale flops such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a continuation of the aforementioned Batman Arkham series. The game didn’t go over well with fans or critics thanks to its Games as a Service model, controversial story decisions, and stale game design. It was an unfortunate swing and a miss, but Batman fans were treated to a much better game in the form of Batman: Arkham Shadow, a brand new Meta Quest 3 VR game. Unfortunately, it is limited to a pricy headset, so a lot of fans won’t really get to properly enjoy it outside of YouTube walkthroughs. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. has promised fans that there will be more Batman games.
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Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav spoke about the future of gaming at the company during a recent earnings call (via Insider Gaming) and it sounds bright. Zaslav noted that the gaming division plans to focus on its proven franchises which include Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC, but “in particular, Batman”. Hogwarts Legacy 2 is already in development and will connect in some capacity with HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. It’s also no surprise that DC will be a focus for the gaming side, especially with Wonder Woman on the way.
However, there have been no official announcements about other DC games beyond that. Rumors began circulating within the last few months that Rocksteady is working on a new Batman Arkham game following the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but it has yet to be confirmed. Such a game would be in the very early stages regardless, but it seems likely. Arkham seems to be a brand that DC wants to keep alive with or without Rocksteady as proven by the success of Arkham Shadow, a game developed by Camouflaj.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League did kill Batman off, but it has been hinted that he will return in post-launch content. It’s speculated he will return when Deathstroke gets added to the game in the near future. However, this would mean Kevin Conroy would not get to voice The Dark Knight in a future Batman Arkham game. Thankfully, Roger Craig Smith has already established himself as a worthy candidate of taking up the mantle. Smith has played Batman in Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham Shadow and was praised for his performances in both games. The actor is known for playing a younger Batman, so it’s possible they could do more prequel games with him, but it’s not out of the question that he could also do an older Batman working with the Justice League.
Either way, Batman fans don’t have to worry much. It has been almost a full decade since the last proper Batman video game (outside of VR). Since then, we have gotten Batman adjacent games with Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights, but it’s clear fans crave the cape and cowl itself. Warner Bros. seems to be aware of that and plans to give fans what they want. The only question that really remains is how long we’ll have to wait to see it, let alone play it.
