WB Games Montreal

WB Games Montreal is a developer.

WB Games Montreal Webpage, Facebook

Montreal-based Canadian development studio owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. WB Games Montreal is best known for Batman: Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights. The studio is headed by Stephane Roy.

History of WB Games Montreal

The history of WB Games Montreal begins in 2010, when the studio was founded by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins

The first project of the Montreal team was Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition, released in 2012, a special version of Batman: Arkham City, created for the Nintendo Wii U console. In 2013, WB Games Montreal released three other games. Two of them were small-scale browser games, namely Cartoon Universe and LEGO Legends of Chima Online, as well as a full-fledged AAA production, Batman: Arkham Origins.

The prequel to the Batman: Arkham series was released on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U in October 2013; the multiplayer mode for this game was developed by Splash Damage studio. The game was received moderately warmly. According to Metacritic, the average rating given to it by industry media was between 68-76/100 (depending on the platform); on Steam, the game received "very positive" reviews from players. However, the project suffered from a number of problems, the biggest of which were the game-breaking bugs.

Gotham Knights

Players had to wait nine long years for WB Games Montreal's next release. In the meantime, the developers delivered additional content for Batman: Arkham Knight, created by Rocksteady Studios. Gotham Knights debuted on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in October 2022. The game presented an original vision of Gotham City, where after Bruce Wayne's death, his friends Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood ensure the safety of its citizens. The industry media received Gotham Knights without enthusiasm; according to Metacritic, the project's average score was between 65 and 69/100 (depending on the platform); on Steam, the title received "mostly positive" reviews. The game was praised for its combat system, story, and co-op, but criticized for, among other things, a map full of artificial "fillers." Furthermore, the game suffered from optimization issues, running only at 30 frames per second on consoles. Despite all this, Gotham Knights had a successful sales debut.

Another single-player project

In February 2023, we learned that WB Games Montreal was already working on another production. It was a mysterious single-player game set in the DC Comics universe.

Before learning the title, in August 2023, news broke that people who held key positions in developing Gotham Knights left the studio's ranks. These included Geoff Ellenor (game director), Patrick Redding (creative director), and Fleur Marty (executive producer). The reasons were not officially disclosed, but it was likely that Gotham Knights hadn't met expectations.

In July 2024, it was announced that Yves Lachance, former director of Bethesda Game Studios, would lead the studio. In December 2024, it was unofficially reported that WB Games Montreal had laid off 99 employees, most of whom were subcontractors from Keywords. The job cuts primarily affected the quality assurance department. However, the company reportedly allowed the rehiring of laid-off developers in 2026.