In a nutshell: Iron Man VR developer Camouflaj has announced that its next game will play out in the Batman Arkham universe, and be a Meta Quest 3 exclusive. Camouflaj said it has been working on the project in secrecy for years, and looks forward to launching Batman: Arkham Shadow later this year. A gritty teaser trailer accompanied the announcement although with no actual gameplay and at less than 50 seconds in length, there's not much to be gleaned from it.
The dev aims to deliver an "authentic, new" entry in the series, and said it is committed to building on the foundation laid by Rocksteady. That studio was responsible for several titles in the Arkham franchise including Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015 and Batman: Arkham VR the following year.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a spin-off of the Arkham series, launched in February 2024 courtesy of Rocksteady and publisher Warner Bros. Games.
Camouflaj said it started crafting the new Batman title to be the ultimate VR game, and to take full advantage of the Meta Quest 3. It will be the studio's largest project to date, and its second release as a first party member of Oculus Studios.
Facebook parent company Meta announced the Quest 3 on June 1, 2023, but waited more than four months to actually launch it. According to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, his company's VR headset is a better product than Apple Vision Pro. One thing's for sure: it's much more affordable. Meta Quest 3 starts at $499 while Apple's visor will cost buyers seven times as much at $3,499. And based on recent rumors, Zuckerberg might be right.
Meta said the new Batman game is due out in late 2024, and encouraged interested parties to tune into Summer Game Fest on June 7 for the world premiere. It is unclear if Arkham Shadow will eventually find its way to other VR platforms or remain a Quest 3 exclusive indefinitely, but here's to hoping for the former.