New Superman game not in development at Rocksteady

Rocksteady squashes months and months of rumors in one fell swoop.

Batman Arkham developer Rocksteady Games is working on a new project, but it isn't based on Superman. Despite rampant rumors, studio co-founder and creative director Sefton Hill confirmed Rocksteady's next big game won't do for Superman what Arkham did for Batman.

"We're still hard at work in our development bunker so don't expect an announcement from Rocksteady Games. When it's ready to show, you'll be the first to know. Spoiler: it's not Superman," Hill wrote on Twitter.

But Superman could still be included in the new game. Hill's confirmation may align (by omission) with previous reports that painted a team-based superhero game. An anonymous 4Chan user (shaky sourcing, I know) said the game is centered around the Justice League, and will have live service elements with online co-op.

Kotaku's Jason Schreier heard something similar: "The thing I've heard is not Superman at all," Schreier said on the latest Kotaku Splitscreen podcast. "I think what we are going to see from them is a game about a group of superheroes. And it will be like a GaaS type thing."

Rocksteady also confirmed it won't be at The Game Awards 2018 next week, so the game won't be revealed at the show.

Whatever Rocksteady is working on, it's likely that Warner Bros. and DC are trying to combat Marvel's big new salvo of games. Marvel signed a multi-year deal with Square Enix to make games based on Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Avengers project should be a live game with Games-as-a-Service elements.

Rocksteady job listings also suggest the new superhero project will target next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett.

Studio community manager Gaz Deaves affirms the game will make us "lose our minds" when it's revealed, but don't expect that to happen until 2019 at the soonest, possibly at Microsoft's E3 2019 showcase.