People hoping to follow the Dark Knight’s adventures on PC were stiffed with the latest installment and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment needs to do a little more make it up to players. Rather than doing everything possible to ensure Batman: Arkham Knight on computers was up to par with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One iterations, Warner Bros. and Rocksteady Studios dropped the ball. The PC port was outsourced to Iron Galaxy (a company with a bit of a reputation for poor ports), where 12 people were tasked with preparing this colossal game.
It didn’t go well. The game wasn’t properly optimised and, while it was supposed to run at 30fps, it often didn’t. Textures didn’t appear properly, showing up at a low resolution that made Batman: Arkham Knight look more like a PlayStation 2 game than a 2015 release. There was stuttering, screen flickering, and it often didn’t sound right. It was broken, and was removed from sale on Steam a day after its release.
On October 28, Batman: Arkham Knight came back to Steam and Warner Bros. owes people. Some minor concessions have been made, like free copies of previous Arkham series games and a slightly lower price point, but it isn’t enough. This port was nothing like anyone expected from a AAA release. It took everyone involved four months to get the game to a point where it is on par with the console releases. Those who did buy it at launch have had to wait for countless patches to get it close to being equivalent to the consoles. But now, it almost seems like the only thing people who’ve waited all this time are getting is patches that bring it up to par with the other versions and immediate DLC access and support.
That isn’t right or enough after everything that people have gone through while waiting for every company involved to do the right thing. Given the delay, Warner Bros. should have announced some sort of apologetic action as reparation, at the very least, for people who did make a day one purchase of the game. People who committed and went through four months of waiting for Batman: Arkham Knight deserve some sort of exclusive DLC. A season pass would be better.
While getting Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and Arkham Origins Blackgate is nice, there’s a flaw. The first is that people aren’t going to get these free games until possibly December, which is far too long to wait considering how long Warner Bros. knew there was a problem. The other issue is, people likely already own them. Arkham Knight was the last game in a trilogy. People usually stay invested. There’s no point in giving something they may already have. A partial refund or full refund would be better.
As for people who didn’t purchase it then, but have been waiting for a reappearance, Warner Bros. should offer also offer a lower entrance price. While Batman: Arkham Knight launched at $60, that sort of pricing doesn’t seem fair now. Especially since the standard price for the console versions tends to hover around $40 or lower during sales. It’s going for $49.99 now, which doesn’t seem right when the game is half a year old and still has some issues.
Warner Bros., Rocksteady, and Iron Galaxy were in the wrong with Batman: Arkham Knight ‘s PC launch. Anyone who compared it to the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One version could clearly see how superior the consoles’ renditions were and how little effort was put into the computer version in comparison. A little consideration goes a long way in winning people back in times like these, and Warner Bros. should do the right thing to make amends.