After months and months of ongoing rumors, it feels like the gaming industry already knows everything there is to know about the upcoming WB Games Montreal Batman game. Originating as a new entry in the popular Batman Arkham series, WB Games has gone through multiple iterations and ultimately landed on a brand new story starring the expanded Bat-Family, the nefarious Court of Owls, the iconic combat we've come to know and love since Batman: Arkham Asylum, and kicking off a whole new video game universe based around the superheroes of DC Comics.
Despite everything that we "know," none of the leaks and rumors ever seems to provide a clear answer on whether or not the next Batman game will be linked to the Batman Arkham series. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X rumored to be releasing in roughly six months time and a five-year gap since the last game, WB Games has the perfect opportunity to leave the Arkham series behind and do something completely fresh with the character, creating new experiences for players and offering the developer creative freedom.
The Arkham Origins Dilemma
In 2013, WB Games Montreal released Batman: Arkham Origins for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC; a prequel to the Arkham series that aimed to fill the four-year gap between Rocksteady Studios' Arkham City and Arkham Knight. WB Games Montreal chose to develop a prequel so the team could explore untapped areas of the character in his early years of crime-fighting, and introduced a number of interesting new features including virtual crime scenes, fast travel, new gadgets like the Remote Claw, new villains like Deathstroke, and a new cast featuring The Last of Us 2's Troy Baker. But despite receiving positive reviews, Arkham Origins is often considered the black sheep of the series.
WB Games Montreal was tied to fit within the boundaries of the Batman Arkham universe and it worked too its detriment. From the game's narrative to its aesthetic, world design, and combat, Arkham Origins didn't evolve the series in any significant way and because of that, it will always remain in the shadow of the Rocksteady trilogy. It's true, great things can come from a new creative team taking a well-known IP and doing something fresh with the property, look no further than James Cameron's Aliens, Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden or Machine Games' Wolfenstein: The New Order. However, just like the comic books Batman originated in, true creative freedom comes from a clean slate; something WB Games Montreal deserves the chance to explore.
The DC Extended Universe
It's no secret that the DC Extended Universe has a long way to go before it could ever rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even after the announcement that Warner Bros. would be releasing the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League next year. When trying to decipher where things went wrong for the DCEU, on one hand it came down to Warner Bros. trying to rush its own success before any of the groundwork had been laid out. On the other, the DCEU was formed after the release of Man of Steel, a Superman reboot that was heavily inspired by the tone and direction of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Sure, Man of Steel fits well within the aesthetic of a Zack Snyder film but it's hard to argue that Warner Bros. wasn't already limiting the future of the series.
WB Games is yet to officially reveal what games WB Game Montreal and Rocksteady Studios are currently working on, however, rumors point toward multiple DC Comics properties that will launch a new DC Comics video game universe starring iconic heroes such as Batman and Superman. If that is, in fact, WB Games current plan as we move into the next generation of games, stepping away from the Batman Arkham brand, as well as any previous story continuity, is incredibly important. Developers need to have creative control and shoehorning WB Games Montreal into the continuity and legacy of the Arkham series will be to the detriment of both the developer and the player.
Unfortunately, eager fans that were hoping for a big Summer Games Fest reveal sometime in the coming weeks, it looks like we'll have to wait a little while longer. Developer WB Games Montreal took to Twitter earlier this month, announcing it will be using its social channels to showcase the studio and its love for making video games, rather than the nature of its next game. Warner Bros. is thought to have been planning to hold its first E3 press conference in 2020, where the publisher would announce multiple new projects from WB Games Montreal's Batman to Rocksteady's next project, and the long-rumored Harry Potter RPG.
WB Games Montreal is rumored to be working on a next-generation Batman game.