Rocksteady Studios, the developers behind Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight are ready to step away from the franchise after the third game is finished and released, they told IGN. The decision was made by the studio itself, not publishers Warner Bros., and they simply feel that now is the right time to move on to something different.
"We've done all we can do here," Rocksteady's Dax Ginn says. "It's...it's kind of time for us to walk away from it."
Arkham Asylum, released in 2009, was a huge hit, and they followed it up with another successful entry two years later, Arkham City. Another game in the series was released between Arkham City and the recently announced Arkham Knight, but it was developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal, and was not as well-received. Rocksteady says they're reaching the finale of the franchise, and pushed for this to be the end.
"Anything we do is a collective decision between Rocksteady, Warner Brothers, and DC Comics," Ginn explains. "But it was something that we were really pushing for because we had a really clear vision for how this story should end, and the way we wanted it to end."
Surprisingly, the Batmobile itself had a lot to do with this decision: Rocksteady felt that it was the final missing piece of what it meant to play as Batman, and now that it's included in Arkham Knight in a large Gotham City setting, the experience is complete.
"For us I think the Batmobile is that final thing," Ginn says. "It's such a critical part of the game, the epicenter of the design, but once we've done this, I don't know we're ever going to feel like we've missed out on a critical piece of what it feels like to be the Batman. That was kind of our driving force all along."
The studio may work with Warner Bros. properties and DC Comics again in the future, but this is it for the Batman: Arkham series for them. What they hope to do next depends on the success of Arkham Knight, according to Ginn.
"I've had a dream of us just shuttering the studio and walking away like rockstars, 'We're done here!'" he jokes. "Our attitude is, if we deliver on Arkham Knight, smash it out of the park, the opportunities we'll have in the future will be massive. We will be able to control our own destiny in that respect."
The scheduled release date for Arkham Knight is October 14, but for now the team is currently hard at work making that great final product a reality, which will ideally open doors for the studio as Ginn hopes. It will be the first Batman: Arkham game made for the new consoles, exclusively available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.