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'Batman: Arkham Knight' Is Coming Back To PC, But It's Too Little Too Late

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Batman: Arkham Knight is finally coming back to PC this month, according to publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

The game, which released in such a buggy, horrible state on PC it had to be pulled from Steam within days of launch, will be back by the end of October.

Here's WBIE's update on Steam:

As many of you know, we released a major patch for Batman: Arkham Knight PC a few weeks ago. While there were significant performance improvements made to the game, the teams are continuing to work on the additional updates that were outlined in our previous post. We expect these updates to be ready at the end of October, at which time the PC version will be made available for purchase. In addition, support for all DLC that has been released for the console versions will be in place.

Thanks again for your continued patience and support. We’ll be sure to update everyone as soon as the update is live.

And here's the reaction from the community:

I can't blame them. Batman: Arkham Knight ran just fine on consoles. Approximately four months will have passed between then and a playable release on PC, and Warner Bros. isn't doing a thing to mollify PC gamers.

How about, instead of supporting the paid DLC that's already released on PS4 and Xbox One, release that DLC to PC gamers for free as a peace offering? It would certainly be a cheap and easy way to earn good will among the fan base.

That's what Ubisoft did when Assassin's Creed: Unity released in such awful shape last year. (Let's hope they don't have to do the same with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate!) It was a smart move on Ubisoft's part, and perhaps more importantly it was the right thing to do.

Simply patching the game to a working state isn't enough. Let's make a brief analogy:

Let's say I go out to eat. I wait to have my order taken and then I wait while it's prepared. If my food comes out and it's all screwed up, I don't want to wait another fifteen minutes to get a second go at the same meal. That means I'm paying just as much to wait twice as long. I'd like it to be comped or get a free drink or something. An apology is nice, even if it's the cook's and not the server's fault. But mostly I'd like something shaved off the bill. That's basic customer service and it ensures I come back to eat here again.

If you release a game that's unplayable, which people have bought or pre-ordered, and then make them wait several months for a playable version of it to release, you'd better go above and beyond "support for all DLC that has been released for the console versions will be in place."

Maybe this is just another sign of the industry's disregard for PC gaming. Whatever the case it's a real shame.

Read my review of Batman: Arkham Knight here.

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