As part of DC’s new initiative of creating a shared universe for its comic book adaptations, co-heads of DC Studios James Gunn and Peter Safran have reportedly spoken with Warner Bros. studios that have previously worked on superhero games, including Rocksteady Studios and NetherRealm Studios.
According to ComicBook, Gunn and Safran revealed during a recent DC Studios event that they spoke with the studios behind games like the Batman: Arkham series and the Injustice series about the future of DC-based games.
“We work incredibly closely with JB Perrette who runs that division,” said Safran at the event. “It’s really the first time its ever been this way at Warner Bros. James and I sit with the guys that run the studios under JB whether it’s NetherRealm or Rocksteady. We sit with them and we talk about characters and stories that we’re interested in and that they’re interested in.”
Gunn spoke about conversations with the studios revolving around various aspects of games that are currently in development, such as story. According to Gunn, the duo consulted with the studios about how their stories could potentially shape out, considering DC Studios’ future plans for those characters.
“We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages,” said Gunn. “We talk about those, we talk about what the story might be and we’ll say ‘Well, you maybe you want to go this way because we’re planning on maybe doing something with this character.'”
It is worth noting that these conversations still revolve around the earlier process of game development, however, with Gunn stating that the fruits of these plans will start being seen a “couple years” from now.
While Rocksteady Studios has been reeling from the failure of its last major release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the studio has seemingly already begun work on its next title. Reports have indicated that Rocksteady will be returning to the Batman franchise for its next game, and a job listing from earlier this month indicates that it will be a third-person open world game with an emphasis on melee combat.
However, while it might be in development, the rumours have also indicated that the in-development title is still “years away from landing”. Work on the new game seemingly started once the studio had wrapped up Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with Rocksteady having reportedly started pitching a single-player title since back in June 2024.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League dealt a major blow to Rocksteady, however, with the company being hit by a new round of layoffs right before the year 2024 ended. Revealed back in January, the round of layoffs came soon after a similar one from back in September 2024, where Rocksteady had lost more than half of its QA staff at the time.
NetherRealm Studios, on the other hand, has largely focused on the Mortal Kombat franchise for a while, with its last DC-related title being fighting game Injustice 2. While the reception of the title was positive at the time, the studio has since been focused on continuing to support its more recent Mortal Kombat titles, including new DLC for Mortal Kombat 1.
