(Photo courtesy of: WB Games) “The long-anticipated release of the ‘Batman Arkham Trilogy’ has been delayed.”
Tyler Browne
Connector Editor
On Oct. 3, Warner Bros. (WB) Games announced that the long-awaited re-release of the “Batman Arkham Trilogy” for the Nintendo Switch had been delayed. The collection, originally slated for an Oct. 13 release, will now arrive on Dec. 1.
WB Games posted a statement announcing the delay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“More time is needed to bring players the best possible experience on Nintendo Switch. We apologise to fans who are excited to play this version of the trilogy. Thank you for your patience,” stated WB Games.
The Arkham Series consists of four games, which released between 2009 and 2015. However, this collection will only include three of the games.
While “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” “Batman: Arkham City” and “Batman: Arkham Knight” will all be included in the Switch release, “Batman: Arkham Origins” has been left out.
“Arkham Origins,” released in 2013, has not been included in any of the remasters or re-releases of the series, as it was developed by a different studio.
Rocksteady Studios oversaw the making of “Asylum” and “City,” which were released in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Both games were highly received by players and critics alike, and Rocksteady was contracted by Warner Bros. and DC Comics to make a final installment of the series, which would become “Arkham Knight.”
As development of the third game went on, Xbox and PlayStation announced that they would each release new consoles before “Knight” was released. The decision to release the third game for only the new generation of consoles led to a delay, and WB Games Montreal was hired to make a prequel game to be released in 2013, when “Knight” was originally scheduled for release.
This is not the first time that a Batman-affiliated video game has been delayed in recent memory.
In 2020, Rocksteady announced that they were making a game based on the Suicide Squad, another DC Comics property. The game, “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” which will take place in the same universe as the “Arkham” series and will feature the final performance of Kevin Conroy as Batman, was initially set to release in 2022.
In early 2022, Rocksteady announced that the game would be delayed into “early 2023.” At The Game Awards 2022, Rocksteady dropped a surprise trailer for the game, revealing that Conroy, who had died just days before, was reprising his role from the previous three games. This trailer also announced a release date of May 26.
On April 13, however, Rocksteady again delayed the release of “Kill the Justice League” to ensure the best possible quality for players.
It is understandable that there are hiccups with getting the “Arkham Trilogy” ready for release, as the Switch uses a much different gameplay system than PlayStation or Xbox consoles, with a focus on mobile capabilities. The original games were designed to be played on a full-size television, and Switch games are not.
However, it doesn’t seem fair to players, especially those who have already pre-ordered the game, to wait until less than two weeks before release to announce the delay. If there were concerns about the gameplay, they should have waited to announce a release date until they were sure that the games were playable.
“Batman Arkham Trilogy” is now set to release on the Switch on Dec. 1. It is already out on Xbox and PlayStation.
