Batman: Arkham Legacy Being Developed by Rocksteady Studios?

When it comes to Batman as a game character, the Arkham series by Rocksteady Studios is still a reference. It started ten years ago with Batman: Arkham Asylum that combined various genres in a complicated adventure. Then there were Arkham City, Arkham Knight, Arkham Origins, and the groundbreaking Arkham VR. Now the franchise seems to be continued by a new installment.

It doesn’t take an Edgar Cayce to predict that the series will go on. As for details, it rather requires a spy, and it seems there is one. The name of the next installment probably leaked, and it’s “Batman: Arkham Legacy”. It looks quite logical, given the recent anniversary of the first installment.

The source of the information is Twitter account @New_WabiSabi that spares some information on games that later gets confirmed. The tweet, though, contains nothing but the name. Later there was another tweet, the source confirmed the early rumors. The game, according to those, will focus on the expanded Bat family (whoever it might include), and there will be more playable characters from it.

There are reasons to believe the source. The best recommendation it has ever received was legal action by Nintendo, suing it before E3 2019 probably because of leaking some too true info. Maybe that explains why there is so little given away this time.

What to Expect

There isn’t much from the developer (in fact, not a word), and the leak doesn’t tell much. The only way to forecast is to extrapolate the tendencies of the latest Batman: Arkham games and compare them to the industry trends.

The latest installment of the series, Batman: Arkham Knight, was released in 2015 (if we skip Arkham VR as a separate genre). It’s hard to suppose that the Rocksteady has been just wasting that time. The new Arkham game is probably deep in development, and if it is so, it’s surprising how they keep it quite leak-free.

Focusing on Batman seems a bit out of trend, given how strongly DC Cinematic Universe is expanding. There are at least just as playable Superman and Aquaman. Many thought that was just the reason why the ending of Arkham Knight looked so much like… mmm… the ending. But Batman is alive and kicking, and in Arkham Legacy we’ll see the details of the older Bruce Wayne (unless it’s all a big flashback).

The Date!

In fact, the question of the date is the question of the console generation. It would be logical to assume that Rocksteady is building Batman: Arkham Legacy for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Project Scarlett.

On one hand, it would be reasonable to concentrate on the platforms to come and be among the first publishers to offer exclusives for PS5 and Xbox PS. On the other, it will only be in a year, and the gaming market will probably face the toughest competition ever when the ninth generation hits the stores. So Rocksteady may postpone the release further to 2021, to find the best time to skip the Christmas mayhem. It’s less probable to see the game published ahead of generation shift; if there were such close plans, the publisher might have already made an announcement.