Where Did It All Go Wrong With Batman: Arkham?

Rocksteady's creation is one of the industry's most lauded... so why isn't it still going?

by Ewan Paterson
Batman Arkham Knight Bruce Wayne unmasked
Rocksteady

Batman: Arkham is, in a great many ways, a tremendous achievement in the gaming medium. When Rocksteady's first entry in the four-game-series launched in 2009, boasting a gorgeous combination of metroid-style exploration and classic third-person combat, it proved to be redefining, and rightly went on to launch a franchise of its own.

Today, Batman: Arkham is one of the most recognisable depictions of the Batman mythos, with the series having branched out into film, various merchandise, and even the comics themselves. It's a powerhouse of a brand, but with that in mind, where has it been for the last three years? Not a peep has been heard from Warner Bros. Montreal - the current custodians of the Arkham license - and Rocksteady are widely presumed to be working on a game centred around the Man of Steel himself, Superman.

The simple truth of the matter, however, is that Arkham isn't the darling it once was. Finding consensus amongst the series' fans, who regularly debate the quality of Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight, is nigh-impossible - with the final two instalments of the franchise having courted controversy for a whole host of different reasons. Once you consider the development troubles that have ostensibly blighted WB Games in the development of another Bat-title as well, one does have to ask the question: where did it all go wrong?

With open worlds, behind the scenes changes and a franchise gone AWOL, it's time to discuss how one of gaming's biggest franchises lost all of its momentum.

*SPOILERS FOR ARKHAM ASYLUM, ARKHAM CITY, ARKHAM ORIGINS AND ARKHAM KNIGHT FOLLOW*

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.