Batman: Arkham Knight on PC, as our very own Chris Capel has already discovered, runs like a three-legged dog wearing concrete trousers. The frame-rate is capped at a not particularly stable 30FPS, and there’s a laundry list of other problems, all of which you can read about in detail on the game’s Steam forums.
Developer Rocksteady, which didn’t actually handle the port, has already vowed to fix its myriad issues, but publisher Warner Bros has gone a step further than that.
In a statement posted on is website, the company announced that it is suspending further sales of the PC port, and is working to provide an updated, fixed version of the game. Here’s the statement in full:
”We want to apologize to those of you who are experiencing performance issues with Batman: Arkham Knight on PC. We take these issues very seriously and have therefore decided to suspend future game sales of the PC version while we work to address these issues to satisfy our quality standards. We greatly value our customers and know that while there are a significant amount of players who are enjoying the game on PC, we want to do whatever we can to make the experience better for PC players overall.
Thank you to those players who have already given valuable feedback. We are continuously monitoring all threads posted in the Official Batman: Arkham Knight Community and Steam forums, as well as any issues logged with our Customer Support (support.wbgames.com). If you purchased your copy of the game and are not satisfied with your experience, then we ask for your patience while these issues are resolved. If desired, you can request a refund at help.steampowered.com (Steam refund policies can be found here: http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds) or the retail location where you purchased the game.
The Batman: Arkham fans have continually supported the franchise to its current height of success, and we want to thank you for your patience as we work to deliver an updated version of Batman: Arkham Knight on PC so you can all enjoy the final chapter of the Batman: Arkham series as it was meant to be played.”
What a complete mess. Listen, I’ve been playing Arkham Knight on PS4, and this is a game absolutely drenched in money. It’s a technical, technological tour de force, with some of the most incredible animation work I’ve ever seen. To spend so much cash, invest so much time and effort into a game like this, and then release a broken mess of a PC port is just inexplicable. Someone - WB, Rocksteady or the external team at Iron Galaxy - must have known it wasn’t fit for purpose. They’ve seen the backlash Ubisoft received for Unity. Exactly what did they expect would happen? I just don’t understand.
We’ll keep an eye on this story as it develops. Hopefully PC players will eventually get the port they deserve, because Rocksteady really has done a fantastic job with this game.
