Warner Bros. have reportedly cancelled the Russian language version of Gotham Knights in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The claim comes via independent reporter Peter Pischke via The Happy Warrior substack, whose previous uncovering of Resident Evil 4 VR’s censorship prompted Capcom to confirm the game had been “updated” for “a modern audience.”
On May 26th, a little over a month after he pulled his initial April 10th report on the topic after receiving further information from his sources, reported that “According to some individuals familiar with Warner Brothers Montreal the Russian-language version of the upcoming Batman game, ‘Gotham Knights,’ has been canceled due to the political fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Pischke further noted that “other language versions were unaffected.”
Speaking to his investigative methods, Pischke explained, “To get confirmation I spoke with some PR people at Warner Bros who are choosing to speak off the record. I then followed the steam page for the game on the Russian side, which shows that there is no language support at all in Russian for the game, not even subtitles.”
“Rumors about the game being canceled swirled online since March,” he added, “but now we can officially confirm.”
Notably, while the Russian version of the game’s official website was active when Pischke published his original article, as noted in his updated piece, the webpage has since been taken down.
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An open-world action RPG with co-op support, Gotham Knights will allow players to take control of either Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, or Red Hood to protect Gotham in the wake of Batman’s death.
In addition to contending with the Dark Knight’s rogue’s gallery of psychopaths and super villains, the eponymous Knights will have to take down the mysterious Court of Owls.
Though WB Games Montreal previously developed Batman: Arkham Origins, Gotham Knights is not part of the popular Arkham series. Instead, it will exist within its own continuity.
Currently, Gotham Knights is set to launch on October 25th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has prompted multiple US businesses to pull services and products from Russia in an attempt to claim solidarity with its independent neighbor.
For example, YouTube blocked the Russian Parliament channel from their service, while numerous gaming companies have simultaneously offered charity to Ukraine and refused to operate in Russia.
Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have halted some or all of their services in Russia.
Blizzard Entertainment removed the small Z symbol from a variant outfit of Russian Overwatch character Zarya, despite it clearly being a reference to her own name rather than the one used by the Russian military.
Wargaming also announced they would cease all sales from Russia, even though the region is a massive market for their popular World of Tanks and World of Warships
Other such companies who have taken similar actions include include Frogwares, GSC Game World, Vostok Games, 11 bit studios, Bungie, Ubisoft, Techland, DICE, and the Embracer group.
In films, Disney and Sony said they would not release their films in Russia, as did Paramount.
Warner Bros. also announced they would be halting their releases, in hindsight a precursor move to Warner Bros. Interactive’s decision regarding Gotham Knights.
What do you think? Do you think such refusals to release a game or a movie in Russia spites the country’s citizens or its government more? Let us know on social media and in the comments below!
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