Why There Aren't More Truly Great Superhero Games

Arkham Asylum should have changed the world. Why didn't it?

by Josh Brown
Batmam Arkham Asylum
Rocksteady

Superheroes and video games should go hand in hand. While movies may struggle to bring the endless imagination of the comics to life, games revel in the kind of explosive action, fantastical abilities and heartfelt plots found in all this source material. Why, then, have so few games actually been able to get it right?

Sure, there have been great superhero games - from Insomniac’s latest Spider-Man to Warner Bros’s Arkham games to even X-Men Origins: Wolverine - but they’ve been few and far between. And considering the movie industry is buzzing with multiple box-office breaking comic-book flicks every year, the lack of amazing superhero experiences on consoles has always been puzzling.

However, the explanation for why can be traced right the way back to the earliest days of the medium. Gaming back then didn’t have the same respect it does today, and that general view led to the big two, Marvel and DC, selling their licences off to publishers who didn’t care enough about quality.

Advertisement
Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.