Batman: Arkham Asylum/City Writer Paul Dini Won't Be Back For the Sequel

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Richard Walker

Having penned the masterful Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, writer Paul Dini has announced that he won't be working with Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Games on a third instalment, explaining exactly why he won't be returning in a blog post.

The reason for Dini's absence from the rumoured third Rocksteady Batman title has something to do with a scheduling conflict, which saw the writer booking future work after he thought that Rocksteady and Warner "had filled their writer needs".

"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," writes Dini. "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 I had something else interesting coming my way, I might want to take it."

Dini went on to explain that his schedule leaves him unavailable to write the rumoured Silver Age Arkham prequel Batman game featuring the Justice League of America (JLA) that Rocksteady may or may not have in the pipeline: "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," Dini continued.

"I had long before taken WI's (Warner Interactive) 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."

[Via CVG]

Comments
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  • hmmm a JLA game....that could be cool, but when you start involving all of these other super heros how long before something gets messed up with those characters and their abilitys. That sounds like ALOT to fixate on and get right. If they can manage to get it right, I would love to see that game and play it!
  • I've always thought Paul Dini was a tremendously talented writer. He wrote the majority of the animated Batman series from the 90 (if not all if my knowledge is correct) and he still writes quite a few comics, all of which are solid reads. It'll be sad to see him step away from such an amazing series but hopefully someone can pull off a shoe swap without losing control of the beast that is the new Batman of gaming.
  • gone be sad to see another batman game without paul behind the pen. in saying that, hoping him all the best and hoping that rocksteady can still put out an amazing game. as for the justice league idea, it can be interesting if done right. as mentioned above, they can't get carried away with trying to jam 100+ characters into the game. my honest opinion is they need to maybe select the most popular characters from justice league, then maybe pick 10-15 of those, and focus the story to that. i don't want to see it be so sporadic with characters and varies stories, that it is just a jumbled mess.
  • SIGH. Sequel? It is not needed, AC ended perfectly as Asylum and City should now be left alone.
  • Im fine with JLA as long as dont do it as an Arkham prequel. It should be set in its won Universe in my opinion. Oh and dont call it a Batman game, call it a Justice League of America game its just easier that way...
  • @4 There were subtle hints for a possible sequel throughout the game. Scarecrow planning something for one. And of course what Azrael said to Batman at the end of the side mission. All those cliffhangers for nothing? Way to piss off fans.
  • @6 Part of what Azrael said has already come to pass. @4 The arkham series need to continue because of what is currently happening to Batman. Anyway, It's always sad when someone who has an important role in a game's success leaves the team. It's still okay though.
  • I don't see the point in a prequel, they just messed up by having joker die in the second game. they can't not include him, so they have to make a prequel. stupid. but ill still buy it.
  • @8 Dude have you never heard of spoilers.
  • That's sad, the AC version of the game had an amazing story.
  • I think the prequel is a good Idea if DC want to get a good foothold in video games. With this prequel have other characters like Superman or the flash appear (Like how robin appeared in AC, but slightly more plot important) the game sells like an Arkham game should, This version of Superman/Flash gets seen by lots of people then BAM announce a Supes/Flash game set in the same universe as the Arkham games. Simples.
  • Well heres to hoping they dont start working on the game until late 2013, i would gladly wait the extra amount of time to have Dini continue on with the project and even though I am more than ready to get into another Batman Arkham title, doing it right is worth the wait.
  • Paul dini is good but there are better batman writers like chuck dixion Scott Schinder would be my personal pick
  • Paul Dini, can we trust him?
  • This is a very good game if it wasn't for paul Batman may have not been as popular as it now is, but since he is leaving batman may find better writers until they get it perfect such as the dark knight trilogy.
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