Today's gameplay trailer for the highly anticipated Gotham Knights has confirmed that, despite previous promotional material suggesting a cross-gen release, the game will be coming exclusively to next-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The gaming community has speculated that Gotham Knights would be next-gen only over the past few weeks due to rating board listings, and it appears that that speculation was correct.
Warner Bros. Games showed off new gameplay for Gotham Knights earlier today, adding to the already significant hype for the game. The showcase centered on Nightwing and Red Hood, revealing their methods of traversal and combat styles, which appear to offer a good variety when it comes to gameplay. More insight was given with regards to the game's loot and cosmetics, revealing how certain gear pieces and buffs will function in-game. Beyond these gameplay particulars and a bit more info about the Gotham Knights narrative, viewers also caught a glimpse of the graphically impressive Gotham City, appropriately shrouded in darkness and featuring plenty of reflective surfaces. This graphical fidelity can be observed in the Gotham City streets, but also in the interior spaces, which the trailer shows off when visiting Gotham Knights's version of The Court of Owls.
As it turns out, these high-fidelity visuals have come at a price. After the Warner Bros. Games gameplay demonstration wrapped up, an October release date was given, sharing screen space with the platforms the game is releasing on. The list notably excludes PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This isn't a mistake or a marketing choice either because, as VG247 points out, the press statement released alongside the trailer confirms that Gotham Knights will be exclusive to next-gen consoles "to provide players with the best possible gameplay experience."
This will surely come as a disappointment to many excited fans who have yet to get their hands on a next-gen console or high-end PC. There are very few games that have been released as next-gen-exclusive, and even less when it comes to high-profile, cross-platform releases. Gotham Knights seems like the perfect Halloween game, so it's definitely sad that a lot of gamers will have to wait to play it.
On the other hand, this move is somewhat expected. Despite hardware shortages, it has been well over a year since the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 launched, and cross-generation development always stops eventually. Ideally, this shift to next-gen-only will lead t Gotham Knights being as technically advanced and polished as possible.
Source: Warner Bros. Games/YouTube, VG247