Following a disastrous launch, the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight is completely M.I.A., now that Warner Bros. has pulled the port from both digital and retail outlets. It’s been a trying time for everyone involved, though according to inside sources, the publisher was aware of the numerous technical issues affecting the PC iteration long in advance, but decided to ship the game regardless.
Speaking to Kotaku under the conditions of anonymity, the QA tester revealed that Arkham Knight‘s PC port has been in a sorry state “for months,” and that many of the hiccups that early adopters have encountered – framerate dips, freezing and outright crashing – were first reported long before the crucial June 23 release date.
“I will say that it’s pretty rich for WB to act like they had no idea the game was in such a horrible state. It’s been like this for months and all the problems we see now were the exact same, unchanged, almost a year ago.”
It’s worth nothing that the source added how Warner Bros.’ decision to issue the greenlight wasn’t intended as a disingenuous ploy to trick the end consumer; rather, the publisher believed the PC port was good enough to warrant a simultaneous release alongside PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Even still, while the console versions of Arkham Knight are a marvel to behold in the technical sense, did this commitment to the PS4 and Xbox One releases effectively compromise the botched PC rendition? The writing appears to be sketched on the wall – stark and vivid much like The Riddler’s in-game scrawlings.
As previously reported, the QA tester reaffirmed that Batman: Arkham Knight on PC was outsourced to Iron Galaxy Studios. It’s understood that principal developer Rocksteady is working tirelessly to rectify the issues with the PC version, but is it a case of too little, too late?