Batman: Arkham Knight delayed until 2015

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This year's big Batman game, Batman: Arkham Knight, is now next year's big Batman game. Warner Bros. announced today that Batman: Arkham Knight for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC has been delayed and is now expected to launch sometime in 2015. Previously, the game was scheduled to launch this fall.

Why the delay?

"We just want to make this the best experience that we can, and that takes time," Rocksteady Studios marketing manager Guy Perkins told GameSpot. "We feel that we have an absolutely awesome game in the works, and we want to make it as great as it possibly can be. We just need more time to do that. If we didn't give the team more time to do it, then we would be releasing something that we weren't happy with. We want to make sure we're absolutely nailing it 100 percent."

Batman: Arkham Knight is skipping the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, instead coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. According to Perkins, Rocksteady's full vision for the game could not be realized on last-gen hardware

"The Batmobile is one thing we just couldn't do on previous gen. It's not just a case of having a car, it's a case of building a city where the car feels at home," he said. "So if we were to try and bring the Batmobile into Arkham City, for example, the streets aren't conducive to that driving experience. You have to create a much bigger environment to house the vehicle."

"Gotham City is five times larger than the game world of Arkham City. And by virtue of having a bigger city, you need more memory and more horsepower to just make that happen," he added.

Not only that, but the detailed character models for Batman: Arkham Knight would be too much for last-generation hardware, Perkins said. "The details on the models we have is insanely huge at this moment--the detail on Batman alone is phenomenal," he said. "Having these current-gen platforms [Xbox One and PS4] allows us to really flex our muscles in terms of art and animation, and we're building everything to make it look as good as it possibly can. The beauty is our engine team can now say yes to our artists; before they were always struggling with what they have available. But now it's more a case of, 'What can't we do?' and, 'Where can we push it even harder?'"

Asked if the technical performance for Batman: Arkham Knight would be the same for the Xbox One and PS4 versions, Perkins said, "We have a benchmark in mind, and we want to give gamers the best experience. We are optimizing at the moment; it's always a challenge, but we want to get to the best place."

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