Marvel Studios may be chairman of the billion-dollar blockbuster club, but when it comes to comic-book-themed video games, DC Entertainment is starting to look untouchable.
Following the huge success of Batman: Arkham City, Time Warner's (TWX) sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, is due to arrive the week before Halloween. A new trailer previews the game, which looks stunning and perfectly reflective of the dark world of the The Dark Knight:
Batman: Arkham Origins from Warner Interactive Entertainment. Sources: YouTube, Warner Interactive.
Expectations are likely to run high for Origins because of its predecessor. Arkham City sold more than 6 million units through its first four months of release.
Origins also benefits from a long line of successful Batman titles produced by Warner and subsidiaries Rocksteady Studios and NetherRealm Studios. Lego Batman: The Videogame has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide since its 2008 debut. More recently, Injustice: Gods Among Us, an action combat game in which DC superheroes fight not only villains but also one another, topped NPD's list of the best-selling titles for the week ending May 7.
The message? Superheroes play as well for DC as movies do for Marvel and parent Walt Disney, though recent efforts could change that. A move to outsource development of Star Wars titles to Electronic Arts could also affect Marvel. Both brands are sorely in need of a chart-topping console game.
Meanwhile, DC and Warner prepare Batman: Arkham Origins for what could be an even bigger debut than Injustice's chart-topping performance. For me, it's just one more reason to believe investors aren't giving Time Warner its due.
Do you agree? Let us know where you stand on Time Warner right now, and which DC or Marvel character you'd like to see star in a video game.
