I have a theory. I died, years ago, and I'm a ghost. The reason I've yet to fully leave this plane of existence is because I've got unfinished business. My unfinished business? Seeing Warner Bros. finally announce this damn Batman game with my own eyes.

At this point we all know it's coming, right?. It's been heavily rumoured for about two years now, and while we can't say which details are true and which are false, it's clear that WB Games Montréal has been developing a Batman game. Everyone from staff at the studio to a critically acclaimed Batman writer have taken to Twitter over the past year to tease and tantalise, and I'm sick of it.

I say this as someone who adores Batman, and I loved Rocksteady's Arkham games. I even loved the prequel title, Arkham Origins, which was actually developed by WB Montréal. I'm just... tired of teases.



To make matters worse, there was light at the end of the tunnel. A report published last month claimed that Warner Bros. had been planning a massive E3 2020 press conference where it would unveil not only Batman, but the long-rumoured open-world Harry Potter game, too. E3 has, of course, been cancelled, so that's that. So close.

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Batman: Arkham Knight / Credit: Rocksteady Studios, WB Interactive Entertainment

But it's not all doom and gloom for the future of the Dark Knight. According to an alleged leaker on Reddit, Warner Bros. will still be announcing the Batman game in June, when E3 was supposed to go ahead, or "maybe sooner".

"I hardly know anything about this game and I'm not gonna make anything up," they wrote. "Announcement is still coming in June or MAYBE sooner. When it comes to Rocksteady and Harry Potter I don't know what the case is now but Batman is WB's next big 'internal' release (not counting Cyberpunk 2077*). It has to release this year and it has to be announced in June.

"I can't offer more info than that but I promise you that I know that they contractually need to announce this game by June regardless of E3's cancellation. You'll see for yourselves very soon."

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Given that the leaker, who goes by the name MisterBlum2020 on Reddit, is a completely unverified source, I would advise you take this with a pinch of salt for now. In fact, the only reason we're touching it is because it tracks with what we're hearing about a lot of other game publishers since E3's cancellation.

Batman: Arkham Knight / Credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Rocksteady

We already know that Xbox and Ubisoft are "exploring" ways in which they can get their planned E3 announcements to fans. Meanwhile, the ESA, who organise E3, promised to work on putting together an "online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020".

Whether Warner Bros. works with the ESA or does its own thing, there's no way it won't be holding a digital event of some kind to show off its upcoming games. As we inch closer to mid-June and the date E3 was supposed to kick off, expect to learn more from developers and publishers about their plans. E3 or not, some huge announcements are still on the way.

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