Rocksteady is a British game development company, wholly owned by Warner Bros., though prior to this Square-Enix did own some share of the company, while Warner Bros would still hold majority stake during that time. An appearance from Rocksteady was eagerly anticipated at E3 this year, but the company would skip on the festivities, much to the dismay of waiting fans. This tweet states from game director and Rocksteady co-founder Sefton Hill states that the company would be working on their next big project in the meantime. But it’s quite some time to go without releases, even after the release of Arkham VR.

As you might expect, this wouldn’t even be the first time that a new Rocksteady game has been anticipated or teased – and not even just a new Batman game. Rumors of a new Superman game back in 2017 might come to mind – and when was the last great Superman game released? And this year, rumors of a Justice League game, though traced back to a tweet from a new hire for the company, and not in any way indicative of a new project rather than simply being a picture of the Justice League. Those following news about Rocksteady as a studio may have been treated to the whirlwind hype of a new Outlaws game – Outlaws being the name of a vigilante group within DC Comics. The Outlaws are particularly interesting considering that they are led by a character named Red Hood, and that character is an alias most associated with Jason Todd.

Jason Todd is an important name because he has also assumed the role of Robin, Batman’s sidekick, within DC comics lore, although it may be argued the name of Robin is more associated with Dick Grayson. But it’s not just this – major spoiler warnings for Arkham Knight, but THE Arkham Knight in Batman: Arkham Knight is also Jason Todd. Todd harbored anger against Batman as he felt that Batman abandoned him, and retains scars after he was tortured by the Joker, but Todd also saves Batman later in the climax of the game.

Suffice it to say, Arkham Knight left something of an opening for an Outlaws game, and the hype surrounding Outlaws was believable at the time, including an accompanying piece of box art that circulated with the rumors…but for the fact that it was all for naught, and later proven to be fake. It can be a trying experience to be someone watching for news from Rocksteady Twitter accounts. Perhaps nothing encapsulates that experience as this tweet from 2017 – asking for patience, and promising something that’s going to make everyone lose their minds. It’s fair to say that fans will have lost their patience waiting for whatever the new project is supposed to be that’s supposed to be making everyone excited. “Wait…for news, eventually!” But that can feel increasingly difficult to ask, since it has been some years.

It is however understandable that there are still Arkham fans waiting for more games in the franchise – the media that made the company what it is, and what created such a fervent base and an impatient and watching games media – us included. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that in February, Rocksteady put out job postings on their website meant for a global promotional campaign of a major triple-A game. We’ve yet to see what that campaign would be for, but it at least suggests that Rocksteady plans on promoting something.

For those hoping for comment on the Arkham series separately from the company, this tweet from Batman voice actor (from the Arkham series) Kevin Conroy might offer some hope. It may be worth considering that the tweet was made at the end of this past June, and so while it’s not necessarily indicative of an Arkham game in particular being in the pipeline, it’s much more reason for optimism rather than seeing a celebratory tweet that gets left by the wayside, only to be seen as something commemorating a triumph for the company in years past. And considering that Conroy’s tweet asks “but why stop there?”, it’s a rather aggressive suggestion at least asking for more Arkham games or, more optimistically, suggesting that the Caped Crusader’s adventures in the Arkham games will continue soon. That tweet, perhaps, is not as aggressive as this one.

Congratulating the company on its new hires, and then asking for them to get to work on a new Arkham game. And that tweet is dated to late May of this year. Even if there weren’t a new Arkham game in the works, it’s nice to have such an ardent champion in the games in someone so clearly relevant to the franchise as the voice actor himself for Batman in the Arkham franchise. While he can’t promise anything since he doesn’t work in game development, it’s also something of a relief nonetheless to see him speak, because his support is unambiguous.

And that concludes our article talking about where the hell Rocksteady’s new game is supposed to be. The Arkham games clearly sell well, and are very popular. They star one of the most popular American comic book superheroes of all time in Batman, an icon whose status as such has with stood the test of time. Beyond just the status of Batman himself, the Batman franchise is host to a diverse rogues gallery – an absolute boon for comic book heroes – and a great cast of accompanying characters to create conflict with Batman and show more dimensions to the character, or to generally raise the stakes in a story.

These games cemented Rocksteady’s status as a studio capable of delivering popular triple-A games, and outside of such high-profile and high-development games, it doesn’t seem like Rocksteady has anything else planned. It simply remains the case that for reasons that we cannot ascertain, Rocksteady is unwilling to go public with whatever their next new project is. There clearly is something new in the works, and it has repeatedly been outwardly promoted by Rocksteady that there is something being worked on. But, as it has been for the past years, we are left with nothing but to wait.

Tell us what you expect the next Rocksteady game to be. Do you think that we are going to get another Arkham game, or will we be receiving something entirely new – another DC Comics property, or something entirely outside of these safer bounds of speculation – a new IP, or a non-comics license? Why do you think that it has taken so long for the announcement of Rocksteady’s new game? Your guess is as good as ours – the company doesn’t lack the skill or support for whatever they wish to work on. Might it have anything to do with an impending console generation transition for the Playstation and Xbox brands? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Rocksteady are the developers best known as the team behind the popular Batman: Arkham series, and it has been a while since their last release. Since San Diego Comic Con is set to take place soon from July 19 to July 22, you may be wondering whether they will show a new game at the event. However, the company’s Studio Director took to Twitter to confirm that that won’t be the case.

The studio’s last major project was Batman: Arkham VR for the PS VR and this was released back in 2016. However, it looks like they are not yet ready to discuss what they are currently working on. If you want to know when they will be revealing more details, the Studio Director Jamie Walker only stated, “You will know when it’s time.” They stated something along similar lines even when they hadn’t shown their new project at E3 back in June. Given the high quality of the studio’s past games, we’re certain that many fans will be excited to see what they come up with next.

Hopefully, we’ll get to know more about what they’re currently working on soon enough.

Inb4 people start asking about whether @RocksteadyGames will be at SDCC this year: we’d love to be there but won’t be ready to talk about our next game for a while yet. You’ll know when it’s time.

— Jamie Walker (@jamiewalk3r) July 11, 2018

Batman: Arkham VR is still considered to be one of the better VR games out on the market right now- it’s short, but it makes an effective use of the nascent VR medium. So far, however, the game has been exclusive to the PlayStation VR, meaning owners of the more high end VR headsets have so far had to sit out on the party.

Well, that will be the case no longer- it seems like Batman: Arkham VR is PlayStation VR exclusive no more. Warner Bros. and Rocksteady have announced that the game will be coming to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift later this month, on April 25, and that it will support Vive Lighthouse and Oculus Touch controllers, as well as the Xbox One Controller, Steam Controller, and DualShock 4.

You can check out the trailer confirming this release for yourself below- are you excited to finally be able to give Arkham VR a go? Make sure to let us know in the comments section below.

Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham VR is enticing from a technology perspective since it allows players to be actually become the Dark Knight for the first time but don’t expect the same length that categorized Arkham City or Arkham Knight. Brand marketing producer Dax Ginn said to Press Start that overall, there will be some 2.5 hours of gameplay.

“The core narrative is about 60 minutes in duration, however additional content is unlocked that provides about another 90 minutes of gameplay on top of that. So there are plenty of reasons to play through the game multiple times in order to see everything that we have put into it.”

It should be noted that this playtime could vary between players. That being said, it’s still looking like a compact storyline at the end of the day.

Batman: Arkham VR’s story isn’t too clear at this point but it apparently “redefines what it means to be the Batman” as he deals with a foe that “threatens the lives of Batman’s closest allies.” Though hyped as exclusive to PlayStation VR, it may only be a timed exclusive till March 2017.

The PlayStation VR appears to be the only VR headset so far actually garnering the kind of game support that is necessary to sell a new format and paradigm in gaming. Independent game support is great, but unless major games and game makers jump on board with VR support, customers will not buy into the new medium.

Which is why it’s always big news when Sony announces that games like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Batman: Arkham VR will be exclusive to their PlayStation VR headset- it positions the PSVR as the mass market standard, if sales follow.

That said, Sony may not necessarily be entirely upfront about the status of these games, at least not right at first. We already reported that Resident Evil 7 is only a timed exclusive for the PSVR– now, it appears that the same is also true of Batman: Arkham VR. In fact, for Batman, the exclusivity window will be even shorter. Sony’s own Facebook posts (via NeoGAF) indicate that Batman will only be exclusive to PSVR until March 31, 2017.

If this is true, then we can probably expect Batman: Arkham VR to show up on other VR formats shortly thereafter. Since Batman is being called one of the best VR games so far, this is probably good news- it means more people will get to go hands on with the title.

One of the most notable games coming to Sony’s upcoming PlayStation VR headset is Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham VR, a virtual reality translation of their seminal Arkham franchise. However, even though we’ve known that it is coming ever since its announcement at E3 this year, we haven’t actually seen much of it, nor do we know a whole lot about it.

That changes with this new video for the game that was posted on the official PlayStation channel. The video showcases how the experience of being the Batman has been taken to its logical and literal conclusion with this VR game placing  you, quite literally, in the Caped Crusader’s shoes.

The PlayStation VR is set to launch next month, in October- Batman: Arkham VR will launch exclusively on PlayStation VR in October 2016 too. You can check out the video for it below- let us know what you think, and whether or not you intend to purchase the game in the comments section below.

When PlayStation VR was revealed, the focus on the games coming to it seemed to be exclusively on smaller, experimental indie games- which is great, because those games are great, but for a lot of people, especially mainstream audiences, they won’t want to spend $400 on an expensive new hardware accessory without something more substantial to tempt them.

And Sony promised us last year that the PSVR would be getting AAA game support- and today, they lived up to that promise. From Resident Evil 7, which was already announced to be fully playable in VR exclusively on PlayStation VR, to PSVR exclusive games such as Star Wars Battlefront, Final Fantasy 15 (yes, seriously, you’ll be able to play FF15 in VR too), to a brand new Batman game (Batman: Arkham VR), some of the biggest AAA games and franchises of the last few years will be coming to Sony’s VR platform.

Which is a convincing way to sell people on the headset, at least the mainstream masses. Let’s see if it works.