Five years ago supposedly marked the end of the highly popular trilogy of Batman games developed by Rocksteady Games. Arkham Knight, released in 2015, was the final game developed by the studio before they moved on to an unannounced project. But, with the massive success of the Batman Arkham series, Warner Bros. has tasked its in-house Arkham Origins developer to work on a secret new entry in the series. After a little over four years, WB Games Montreal finally teased the new game back in January.
Since then, WB Games has remained tight-lipped about the game's existence, only leaving fans with the cryptic symbols of iconic organizations in the Batman comic universe. Then rumors started flying around that the new Batman: Arkham game was on track to show at E3 before the entire trade show was cancelled. While fans have gotten some communication about what's next for the Arkham series, it hasn't been great news. The next Arkham game may be further away than fans expected.
Where's Batman?
After Arkham Knight, the very popular Batman game series has laid dormant for years. Even though the original Arkham series developer Rocksteady Games has moved on to a new project, Warner Bros. has been keen on continuing the franchise further, and like any other developer, WB Games Montreal stayed silent during the development process. But, unlike previous Arkham releases, time started to march on even longer than in previous years. Ever since Arkham Asylum's initial launch in 2009, there had never been more than three years between each sequel.
But as the months and years marched on, there'd only been little tidbits of info from rumors about the next Arkham game. At first, there were rumors about a potential Suicide Squad co-op game being made by WB Games, though it was confirmed that the title was cancelled. There were even some rumors about a Justice League game in development by Rocksteady Games as well, though none of these details were confirmed. Many figured that since Rocksteady Games was moving on to something new, that WB Games would move on to a new project as well. But at the end of 2019, eventually those rumors turned into a new Batman game being developed by WB Games entitled Arkham Legacy.
Legacy, Court of Owls, and More Rumors
Four years after Arkham Knight's release in September of 2019, WB Games Montreal teased several cryptic sigils spliced within a video of the bat-symbol being shown on an IRL building. Then in January of this year, WB Games once again teased another a sigil, one reminiscent of law enforcement or family crest. Many looked to that tease as a reference to the many organizations part of the Court of Owls, a secret Illuminati-style organization in the Batman universe. Court of Owls was another popular rumor for Arkham Legacy flying around the internet, that only became more popular with WB Games' teases.
Obviously from there fans tried to piece the sigils together and make sense of the tease, and how it potentially relates to the Court of Owls. Many assumed that WB Games had a drip feed marketing plan that would continue to drop more hints as the year went on. After January, WB Games Montreal returned to its deafening silence once more. A rumor in March stated that Warner Bros. had an E3 press conference prepared for the reveal of the game, prior to E3's cancellation. Much to fans' dismay, there wouldn't be another word about the teases or rumors until this month.
And the biggest issue here is none of these are solid. The teases obviously indicate something, but everything else is in the air entirely. Recent rumors, for example, indicate the game is dropping the Arkham moniker and will serve as a reboot.
In the Shadows, For Now
This is where the disappointment begins, as WB Games finally (vaguely) commented on the leaks and teases for its next game. Despite rumors that a reveal was coming soon, WB Games Montreal took to Twitter a few days ago to mention that it wouldn't be commenting on its next project anytime soon. Granted the tweet doesn't outright state the game isn't going to be revealed or coming out anytime soon, but it does make sense considering how much has been officially teased about the game. Other than the teased sigils, there hasn't been any other concrete information about the game.
If the next Arkham game truly were coming out soon or even this year, fans would likely already know about it. As mentioned previously, this has been the longest amount of time between Arkham games. WB Games has worked on an Arkham game before, so it's not likely a new Batman project is an ambitious one for them. Unless the game is a full-on Arkham reboot like some rumors have suggested, WB Games would've teased a lot more than just a few symbols.
Even if the game does receive a trailer at Summer Game Fest, despite Geoff Keighley refuting the rumor for recent event at least, the game likely isn't far enough along to show any gameplay and wouldn't release in 2020. If Arkham Legacy, or whatever the next Batman game is called were truly coming out this year, there'd be a lot more official info about the game shown by now.
There's a very real possibility fans could get more info about the next Batman game in 2020, but it wouldn't amount to more than another tease. Development can't possibly be far enough long if all that's been officially shown so far are symbols. Pair that with conflicting rumors all around, and it just doesn't seem like the next Arkham is coming soon.
The next Batman Arkham game is reported to be in development.