Why There's Been No Batman: Arkham For Three Years

Warner Bros, wherefore art thou Warner Bros?

by Ewan Paterson
Warner Bros.

In case you somehow hadn't already noticed, Batman: Arkham has been missing for a little over three years now. The series, launched by UK-based developers Rocksteady Studios in 2009, is rightly considered to be the greatest panel-to-polygon adaptation of a comic book license ever released, and though it certainly faltered along the way (more on that here), its presence has undoubtedly been missed.

But while the world fixates its eyes on what Rocksteady are up to next (which may or may not be a Superman game), another studio is being overlooked. Warner Bros. Montreal, the one-time custodians of the Arkham license and the developers of 2013's divisive Batman: Arkham Origins, have been working on something for years now - so why don't we know what that something is?

It's been five whole years since the studio released their Bat-prequel, and with talk of failed spin-offs, sequels and prequels aplenty, it wouldn't be disingenuous to assume that Montreal's devs have had to deal with their fair share of challenges during that period.

But why have things been so quiet? With rumours of cancellations and reshuffles aplenty, here's all you need to know regarding the current status - and future - of Batman: Arkham.

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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.