Rocksteady Studios, the developer behind the Batman: Arkham franchise, is set to return to the caped crusader's story. According to recent reports by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the studio has been at work on a single-player Batman game, but it's still a long way from launching.
The news comes in light of quite turbulent times at Rocksteady. Its latest game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, saw mixed reactions among critics, along with the commercial performance it managed, hence leaving parent Warner Bros. Discovery at a financial loss of $200 million. With the recently occurring layoffs too, many are asking what all this could mean for the future of Rocksteady.
If rumors are true, this successful recapturing of the Batman license would seem to indicate the studio is still very much a vital part of the parent company's plans. In their own terms, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight make Rocksteady one of the biggest developers in terms of superhero video games.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav also made it clear that the company is refocusing on a small number of key core franchises, and that includes going heavy on the Batman IP. He said Warner Bros. is "doubling down" on just four key gaming franchises — Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC Comics properties, "particularly Batman."
"We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio," Zaslav added, signaling a strategic shift towards more reliable properties.
The news also comes at a time when the wider Warner Bros. Games division has had its own share of misfortunes. Other than the Suicide Squad debacle, the other recent releases by the company have not been successful in making an impact in the market, which includes MultiVersus and Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions.
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