Batman and the publishers- when the evil corporation aided the dark knight.

I'm Batman, aren't we all? Well according to the sales figures of Arkham city, yes we are. The incredible success of Arkham city is a massive victory for everyone in the games industry. Why? It proves that giving a talented developer time, money and backing can end in massive profits for shareholders and a great game for consumers. Everybody wins.

In an industry that is constantly being berated for lack of creativity it seems impossible that a middling developer would be given an important license and then provided enough time to produce a really special game. Well that is what happened, when WB games allowed Rocksteady studios to develop a completely original game based on the Batman license. What had Rocksteady done to deserve this honor? From the surface not a great deal on the surface, a short history of games production that can be summed in with one major release. Urban Chaos- Riot response was a fairly well received first person shooter (73% on metacritic, not to be sniffed at) but not a game that would have fans feverishly clamoring at Rocksteady's door.

This is the the major point though, WB interactive did see something special in Rocksteady. They didn't bas their assessment of the company on sales and reviews they must have looked at the developer and really believed in their ability to turn around a top tier game. This is why I think they deserve praise. I know we as a community like to stick it to the man, the men with the money that make all our playgrounds brown, re- imagine our favorite franchises as first person shooters and make sonic black then give him guns. Perhaps, just perhaps we should congratulate them when they get something right? How else are they supposed to learn? There's no naughty step for multinational corporations.

Think about the sell they must have had to make to their shareholder, their boss and paymaster and dark lord of all the western provinces (perhaps exaggerated).

"We're going to give one of our biggest licenses to a fairly small developer from Kentish town, London."

"They've only made one game before"

"It didn't sell or score that well"

Would you have taken this as a shareholder, this is your money on the line. Would you not have insisted on an another safe movie based game? Doesn't set the world alight but it pays the bills. Mediocre but profitable. You can almost feel the internet quivering with anger at this kind of thinking. When you take a second to think about how producers have to justify the money they are giving to developers maybe their "erring on the side of caution" becomes more understandable?

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Tags: Dead Space 2, Dead Space, Batman: Arkham City

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Andrew Hiscock

October 26, 2011

I would argue that Batman has always been subject to gigantic corporations. In fact, it was birthed by Bob Kane at DC. His creation was a response to a major force within the industry (Superman), and has been used as a corporate asset ever since.

The difference between Batman and other superheroes who have been exploited is the character itself. Batman has a story and profile that seems to attract a certain type of artist who manages to bring the best out of themselves and the character (barring the goofball silver age stuff). He attracts the darker elements of humanity, which are infinitely more interesting than the good.

He also, by now, has an amazing tradition of storytellers behind him: Frank Miller, Grant Morrisson, Tim Burton, Chris Nolan, just to name a few, which have laid fertile ground for new story development.

Honestly, it's no surprise that Batman: AA was the first truly great licensed superhero game (at least by most reckonings). The character has a fantastic track record of great product, and his owners probably treat him with as much care as any other creative property in the world.

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Ben Lake

Batman may have a great product record but very little of it was in games I'm afraid. I agree though that Batman seems to bring the best out of the creative types, I'll admit to not knowing much about the comics but the constant struggle between the need for justice but never crossing the line and killing ( even when it may be beneficial to all) makes him a much more interesting character than a lot of superheros.

I think rocksteady's greatest triumph was to create a game around him and his skills and weaknesses. Rather than say, copying another game and shoe horning in a superhero. This is usually a result of producers forcing a licence on a developer and then giving them a time limit of when the game has to be done. Whether the character is good for games or not I think it is the development team that really takes the plaudits.

Or certainly, and I give full credit to Grant Morrisson for his excellent AA graphic novel. And not all Batman stories have been excellent - Jeph Loeb's Hush immediately comes to mind. Surprise! The twist is that a guy you never heard of is behind everything!

I agree that Rocksteady was able to get the most out of the character, much as Neversoft did excellent by Spiderman. What's awesome about Spiderman? Webslinging! Let's make that awesome.

As for Batman himself, he is the perfect video game character, and Rocksteady using the license was, at least we can safely say now, was a stroke of genious. I hope that other games are inspired by this, and not so much lift the mechanics directly, but use their superheroes in the same way as you outlined Rocksteady used Batman.