It's not been plain grappling for Batman Arkham Knight's issues on PC this week. Plagued by frame-rate problems, screen tearing, bad textures and soundbugs, the game has now been removed entirely from sale on PC. Warner Bros has issued the following statement on its official forum:
"We want to apologize to those of you who are experiencing performance issues with Batman Arkham Knight on PC. We take these issues very seriously and have therefore decided to suspend future game sales of the PC version while we work to address these issues to satisfy our quality standards. We greatly value our customers and know that while there are a significant amount of players who are enjoying the game on PC, we want to do whatever we can to make the experience better for PC players overall."
It goes on to say that players can, if they are dissatisfied, request a refund on Steam or "the retail location where you purchased the game." Prior to the removal from sale, GOG went against its standard returns policy and was offering refunds yesterday. In the statement, Warner Brothers links to Steam's refund policy which as we know as standard is for those who have played for under two hours. Whether these refunds apply to those who have played for longer and expected the game to be fixed is unknown.
Yesterday WB Games had suggested a series of Batman Arkham Knight PC setting fixes to make the game playable but removing it from sale is a big step from Warner Bros and clearly means it's taking the issue exceptionally seriously. It's also worth noting that the PC port of the game was handled by external company Iron Galaxy Studios and not Rocksteady. Creative Director Sefton Hill has already tweeted that the team is ready to support WB Games and Iron Galaxy in fixing the issue. It has also been confirmed by Videogamer that Nvidia is aiding with support.
I'm aware that some users are reporting performance issues with the PC version. This is something that Rocksteady takes very seriously.1/2June 23, 2015
WBGames is working with the PC developer IronGalaxy to address the issues ASAP. Rocksteady will provide any support to get this resolved.2/2June 23, 2015
The WB statement goes on to thank the community for its understanding. "The Batman: Arkham fans have continually supported the franchise to its current height of success, and we want to thank you for your patience as we work to deliver an updated version of Batman: Arkham Knight on PC so you can all enjoy the final chapter of the Batman: Arkham series as it was meant to be played." Hopefully this won't be too long a wait for PC players to get the Batman they both need and deserve.
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