Batman: Arkham Knight to Receive Mature ESRB Rating

[StewShearerOld]

Batman: Arkham Knight to Receive Mature ESRB Rating

Rocksteady founder Sefton Hill says that Batman: Arkham Knight will take players "to some dark places."

Batman (at least the modern iteration) is a character that tends not to tread in shiny, happy places. He fights mobsters and psychopaths; taking on the horribleness of the world and pounding it into submission with the power of his hyper-trained fists. It's not uncommon, in turn, for his stories to involve some supremely messed up stuff. Regardless of that fact, he's considered by many to be a superhero for all ages. Be it comics, movies, television or video games, parents of children young and older often have no qualms about exposing their younglings to the adventures of the Dark Knight.

According to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/esrb>the ESRB however, parents may want to pause for a moment before giving little Johnny or Judy <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/batman%20arkham%20knight?os=batman+arkham+knight>Batman: Arkham Knight. While the ratings group has yet to reveal exactly why, it has recently been confirmed that Rocksteady's latest Batman game will be receiving a Mature rating. Addressing the board's decision, Rocksteady founder Sefton Hill attributed it mainly to the game's story, which he said will go "to some dark places."

"As the end of the trilogy, we have every villain in Gotham working together to destroy Batman," he said. "It's unavoidable that some bad stuff is going to happen. But that doesn't mean we changed our approach. We're not including gratuitous blood or swearing. We want to deliver a true end with no compromises, and it takes us to some dark places." He would go on to say that while the game will maintain a balance in terms of its overall tone, it will include "more mature" themes than previous entries in the series. "In the case of Arkham Knight, Batman is at his peak and most powerful... But to counter that strength, the super villains are going to fight dirty and take him to dark places."

According to Hill, there was some concern from the game's publishers at Warner Brothers about certain "key scenes." Despite this however, Rocksteady stuck to its guns and intends to release the game as is, even if some younger gamers aren't able to play as a result of its higher rating. "It would have been wrong to water down the game and deliver a story we didn't believe in to keep the game 'mass market,'" he said. "We feel that's the wrong way to go about it. We said we love the story and we don't want to jeopardize that."

Batman fans will be able to find out exactly what made Arkham Knight and M for Mature game when it launches on <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/ps4>PS4, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/xbox%20one?os=xbox+one>Xbox One and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/pc>PC on June 2nd.

Source: <a href=http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/24/batman-arkham-knight-shows-bruce-wayne-at-his-darkest>IGN


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[FoolKiller]

So far I have been pleased with the previous two games in the series that Rocksteady was responsible for. I also applaud them for keeping the M rating rather than change what they believe to be an integral part of the experience.

My copy has already been ordered.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Glad to see they stuck to their guns; would hate to see the game turn out like robocop 3.

As much as I want it at release, it's going to be a long wait for the inevitable goty edition with all the dlc and stuff.

 

[Scrythe]

According to Hill, there was some concern from the game's publishers at Warner Brothers about certain "key scenes."

Batman straight-up murders someone, doesn't he? Admit it!

 

[Ralphfromdk]

According to Hill, there was some concern from the game's publishers at Warner Brothers about certain "key scenes."

Batman straight-up murders someone, doesn't he? Admit it!

I'm personally betting on Catwoman and her boobs being in the game. That alone would make the ESRB all hot and botherd.

 

[shrekfan246]

Glad to see they stuck to their guns; would hate to see the game turn out like robocop 3.

I get the point you're going for, but it's kinda inverted. The previous two Batman: Arkham games Rocksteady did were just rated T, whereas the first two Robocop films were rated R. And, honestly, it sounds like a lot more went wrong with the production of Robocop 3 than just the fact that it was PG-13.

OT: I'm glad to hear they're supposedly not putting in gratuitous gore or swearing, as that was the first thing my mind jumped to when I heard "M-rated" and I thought it would feel a little out-of-place for the Batman world they've created up to this point.

My second thought was that something like Deus Ex: Human Revolution was also rated M. I'm interested in seeing what has caused them to go for such a rating.

EDIT: That said, I also hope it's not something involving sex or nudity, because even with Catwoman in Arkham City it still feels like it would be wildly inconsistent with everything they've done already.

 

[lacktheknack]

Good. Arkham City had gleefully gone whizzing past firmly into M-rated territory as far as I was concerned, so at least I can be prepared for this one to be even darker.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

My initial reactions were that I already thought it was rated M to begin with.

 

[Callate]

M-m-mehhhhhh...

Rocksteady has earned a ton of trust from their work on the earlier Arkham games. If they say that whatever earned Arkham Knight an M was necessary to the story they wanted to tell, I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that that story was worth the telling.

But with a comment like

"In the case of Arkham Knight, Batman is at his peak and most powerful... But to counter that strength, the super villains are going to fight dirty and take him to dark places."

...A little warning bell goes off in my head about my least-favorite tropes in video games: "And then we take control away from the player, and during the cut-scene, it all goes to @#$%" and/or "And now the game won't proceed until you do something you know is stupid and possibly out of character."

No matter how good you are on the buttons, there's no escaping the gratuitous Diabolus Ex Machina.

 

[Diablo2000]

According to Hill, there was some concern from the game's publishers at Warner Brothers about certain "key scenes."

Batman straight-up murders someone, doesn't he? Admit it!

My bet, someone it's getting murdered, since it's end of the trilogy it's easy justify killing character they wouldn't otherwise and it's a easy way to raise the stakes. Once again, my bet either Comissioner Gordon, The Oracle or Alfred. I know that would worked on me, I like all these characters and would care if they would die.

 

[vid87]

That's all well and good - really it is - but I'm wondering how they're justifying the budget if they narrow the audience. I might be naïve but this thing looks ridiculously expensive to produce.

 

[Rad Party God]

Both Rocksteady's Arkham games were pretty dark on their own right, especially Arkham City and sometimes I'm surprised how the heck did these games get a T rating. I'm glad it won't hold back, Arkham Origins kinda killed my interest on the series, but now I'm more interested than ever on this game.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

"Looks at all the killing the villains do in the first 3 games" so if murder and killing isn't enough to get an M what the hell does this one do?

 

[Diablo2000]

That's all well and good - really it is - but I'm wondering how they're justifying the budget if they narrow the audience. I might be naïve but this thing looks ridiculously expensive to produce.

Games rating don't work the same way movies does, unless it's AO, stores don't have problems in selling to anyone willing to pay. Movies Theaters are under some form of supervision if they are allowed minors in movies they aren't suppose to see, so they usually don't let minors in...
So for game increase the rating given it's not AO (Which is rare...) it's usually a safe bet.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"Be it comics, movies, television or video games, parents of children young and older often have no qualms about exposing their younglings to the adventures of the Dark Knight."

Just slap Adam West's TVv series on, and the kids are golden!
Not the early era comic's though; those involve a TON of brutal killing (by Bats) and racism...

As for the rest; hey, older folks need stuff too, ya know!
Like Grey Goo, so we can pretend it's still 1996 and Red Alert just came out

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I won't lie. This raised a bit of a red flag for me. Yeah, the world of Batman isn't exactly sunshine and roses, but I do fall into the crowd that thinks he's always been okay for young kids to watch. Some things probably not, but for the most part, it's been okay.
However, it sounds like Rockstar knows what they're doing. They said they didn't throw in blood, insane violence, and swearing. This has caused the red flag to be lowered some. I'm still buying this game and playing the living daylights out of it, but I'm a bit curious as to what will go down to make this a M rated game.

 

[Brian Tams]

Wait, Asylum and City were rated Teen?

Huh, with the mature themes I thought they were M. But then again, they were missing tits, which is what rating systems are really trying to protect children from. Filthy, filthy tits!