One of the best known Batman writers, Paul Dini will not be returning to write the next Batman “Arkham” game for Warner Bros and Rocksteady. Dini who is most famous for penning Batman: The Animated Series, was the main writer for both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. When asked on twitter whether he was working on the next “Arkham” game he responded with “no”.
He later explained the situation in a blog post:
“The last talk I had with Warner Interactive about future games was while I was doing promotion for Arkham City last September. Naturally as there was such a rush of interest about Arkham City, everyone was asking me about a third game, and frankly, I had been wondering about that myself. When I asked about the possibility of working on a third game I was told that as Rocksteady had just finished wrapping the second one, it would be a while before everyone was ready to sit down and discuss future plans. That said, it was intimated that for future games, Warner and Rocksteady might not be looking as much to freelance writers, the message being, that if had something else interesting coming my way, I might want to take it.
When I later read their subsequent announcements about the Harley Quinn’s Revenge game expansion and the rumored Arkham prequel/JLA game, I figured they had filled their writer needs. I had long before taken WI’s advice and booked my schedule with a number of other projects, leaving me unavailable to take on anything new until 2013. It was fun working with Warners and Rocksteady on the first two Arkham games and I am grateful to them both for a tremendous experience. Rocksteady has a great crew of artists and storytellers, and it was exciting and enlightening for me to be part of that team. If we wind up working together again at some point, that would be cool, too.”
Paul Dini is credited as being one the best Batman writers on the planet, so I don’t see how him not being re-hired on the next “Arkham” project will doing anything but hurt the storytelling. He basically even said in another twitter post that he wished he could return ”…but it’s not my call.” This could be a huge misstep for the franchise, which is already heading down a dangerous road if the rumors are of the game being a prequel are true.
The next Batman game is rumored to be a prequel to the first two games and it will supposedly tie in the Justice League to the game somehow. That premise is already a little sketchy as it seems Warner Bros might be forcing the Justice League into a Batman game because they are developing a Justice League movie. And now they don’t want one of the best Batman writers working on the game, I am a little concerned about the game to say the least.
I hope I am wrong and losing Dini won’t affect the storytelling as much as I fear it will, but I am now skeptical of the next Batman “Arkham” game which is something I never was of Batman: Arkham City. Any of you Batman fans concerned about the next “Arkham” game like I am or do you trust Rocksteady can get the job done without Paul Dini?
