The last time we heard anything official regarding Batman on the gaming front was in 2015 when Rocksteady released the acclaimed Batman: Arkham Knight. It was the third in a trilogy of games following Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Asylum.
While there have been rumors Rocksteady was working on another Batman game, a game developer for WB Games Montreal, the team behind the spin-off Batman: Arkham Origins confirmed he is working on a new DC Comics based game.
Chatter surfaced online late last month Warner Bros. Interactive is working on something DC-related, and possibly related to Batman.
Sarah Longthorne, a narrative designer at UK-based game developer Sumo Digital — the current caretakers for Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat — chummed the Internet waters to find out what her industry contemporaries were working on. This prompted a reply from Osama Dorias, senior game designer for Warner Bros. Montreal, who could only say his mystery project was a DC franchise.
[redacted]
DC franchise.
[redacted]Sorry 🙁
— Osama Drama (@osamadorias) July 21, 2019
Gamers’ fingers are crossed that this means another Arkham game or possibly a new game based on Superman, who has not starred in his own video game since Superman Returns — a tie-in loosely based on the movie directed by Bryan Singer and starring Brandon Routh — in 2006. The Man of Steel has been a supporting character in a host of others, most recently last year’s Lego DC Super-Villains.
The speculation was then (according to We Got This Covered) that Arkham series developer Rocksteady Studios was working on some super-secret title having to do with Superman and would unveil it at E3, which did not come to pass.
An early indication giving credence to the notion they are ramping up for something came up about a year ago. Rocksteady announced a hiring spree for longterm employees to work on a AAA title. One job posting went as follows:
“Rocksteady Studios is looking to add to its family of permanent staff. We are looking for an exceptionally talented Lead Character Artist who is ready for the challenge of leading our character team to produce world class assets for our next AAA title.”
If the AAA title is the same as the purported DC title it could be Superman, Batman, or one of a number of characters who have a movie (e.g., Wonder Woman) or an entry in other media that will see a release soon. Something that can be cross-promoted makes the most sense.
We await more details and that could be awhile.
What do you think? Who do you want to see Warner and Rocksteady adapt next? Feel free to leave a comment below.