Fixed Batman: Arkham Knight for the PC delayed until at least September

Ever since Batman: Arkham Knight vanished from store shelves amid controversy around the terrible condition of the PC port, there’s been questions about when the game might be back on store shelves. A new leaked email to EB Games suggests that the Caped Crusader won’t return to PCs to conclude his adventures for quite some time. “As previously advised,” read an internal EB Games email, “we have stopped sales of Batman: Arkham Knight PC while Warner and Rocksteady work on addressing performance issues with the game. The latest information from Warner is that the updates won’t be available until Spring. Due to this we have made the difficult decision to recall all PC stock from stores to return to the vendor until an acceptable solution is released.”

“Spring,” in this case, means Australian spring, which begins in September. This jives with other reports that we heard earlier this summer suggesting it would take months to bang the PC version into shape. The good news is, it suggests Rocksteady is committed to fixing the game in the long-term, as opposed to either cutting its losses and running or simply allowing the Steam refund process to take care of unhappy users.
Rocksteady has released one fix for Arkham Knight that addressed certain issues, but no major patches as of yet. The company has stated that DLC production for the PC version is on-hold until it finishes patches up the main game, which implies players who haven’t had problems will have to wait longer to see the full content console players are already enjoying. Then again, early reviews of the first Batgirl DLC have suggested it’s a rote, by-the-numbers adventure that doesn’t do much to tap the unique backstory or capability of one of Batman’s oldest allies.

Previous games, like Arkham City, offered the chance to play as Catwoman.

It’s not the first time that DLC or add-on characters in Arkham titles have been accused of missing the boat. Previous games have offered the chance to step into the shoes of other characters, like Harley Quinn or Catwoman, but have almost always treated these characters as cookie-cutter versions of Batman with access to the same abilities, acrobatic fighting style, and gadgets. The patina of variation is just that — a paper-thin method of differentiation that offers a few small deviations from Batman’s classic fighting style, but rarely deviates enough to feel truly different.
Hopefully Rocksteady will take the time to put the coat of polish on the PC version that it deserved from the beginning, rather than simply patching the game until it runs well enough to not be tossed in the not-so-metaphorical bargain bin. Ultimately, I’m not inclined to cut the company much slack — reports indicate it was fully aware that the PC version of the game was in terrible shape and opted to ship it anyway, which makes this newfound dedication to quality rather suspect.