It's been known for some time that a new Batman game was coming; for weeks, the rumor mill has been churning out theories about the story and the implications of the leaked title. Now the rumor mill gets to start over, because Gotham Knights has been revealed, and Batman fans know more than ever about it. The trailer reveals plenty about the game, from the setup involving Bruce Wayne's untimely death and the Court of Owls rising as a threat to Gotham. It's always exciting when a trailer like this finally drops and confirms a lot of dubious information about a game.
However, the trailer conspicuously lacks one piece of information: when is Gotham Knights coming out? The trailer doesn't include a release date. While it's known that the game will be out in 2021, that kind of window is always awfully broad -- Gotham Knights could release in January on fresh consoles or more than a year from now. With only one brand new trailer to work with, odds are fans will have to keep busy speculating about the game for the foreseeable future. Perhaps one of the richest possible fields of theorycrafting has to do with that elusive release date.
Clues from Arkham
Considering that Gotham Knights is being published by Warner Bros Games Montreal just like the Arkham series before it, the release date might be influenced in some way by Arkham. Despite taking place in separate continuities, chances are the games will be forever connected on a development and fan perception level. Those games had a habit of releasing in the last third of the year. Two of them arrived on store shelves in October and another in August, while Arkham Knight was an outlier releasing in June. Beyond that, October and November have come up a fair bit more in Arkham's history, such as the October 2016 remaster of Arkham Asylum for PS4 and Xbox One.
The question then becomes how much of a relationship WB Games Montreal wants Gotham Knights to have with the Arkham series. It was assumed for a long time that Gotham Knights would be an Arkham game when rumors indicated another Batman game was in the works, but it turns out they're unconnected storylines taking place in alternate universes. Even if the games don't have anything to do with one another, WB Games might feel enough nostalgia for their first series to mark October and the months around it as the traditional time of the year for new Batman games to release.
The Production Schedule
Beyond that, there's some hallmarks of Arkham that could affect Gotham Knights with less to do with nostalgia or lore and more with the pace of production. The Arkham series has always had a very brisk release schedule. From 2009 to 2015, there was a new game in the series every other year, even when the development hit its rough patches. Thanks in part to that pace, the games generally released within about a year of their reveal. Four games in six years is a pretty impressive pace, and if Gotham Knights is developed nearly as swiftly as its predecessors, it might be out sooner rather than later. This could mean it's another outlier if it's reveal-to-release time frame remains the same.
It's worth acknowledging that development schedules everywhere are far from normal right now. Every game studio has had to adapt to the pandemic, and WB Games Montreal is surely no different. As long as the pandemic remains an issue, it's likely to be an obstacle to Gotham Knights. With that context and all these other clues combined, it wouldn't be surprising if a full year goes by before the game releases. The developers could always surprise fans with a release announcement in the next six months, but the odds are against it. For now, players will have to be satisfied with the new trailer and look forward to new reveals.
Gotham Knights will be released in 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.