This open-world game about Batman could predate Arkham Knight by years

Pandemic Studios is a development team that has secured a lasting place in the hearts of players. Their portfolio includes major titles such as the first two installments of the Star Wars: Battlefront series, Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries, and the Destroy All Humans! series, as well as the cult classic The Saboteur.

Few people remember that this studio once had the chance to occupy the position Rocksteady Studios holds today, as they were developing an open-world action game based on the movie The Dark Knight.

The journey begins

In 2005, Batman Begins, developed by Eurocom, was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, with a separate game also released for Game Boy Advance. While the game, based on the Batman Begins movie, offered a respectable level of quality, it ultimately fell short of becoming a blockbuster. The opportunity to reach that level was set to come with the next Batman game, which in 2006 was assigned to the then-up-and-coming team at Pandemic Studios.

This marked the beginning of work on Batman: The Dark Knight. The game’s developers had the support of the original film’s distributor, Warner Bros., which provided all the necessary materials, including the script and concept art. In addition, the characters’ appearances and voices were to be provided by the actors from the films. Interestingly, it was thanks to one of the actors, Gary Oldman, that the world first learned about Pandemic Studios’ work on the project. More on that shortly.

The game’s storyline was set to closely follow the plot of the original film. As a result, Batman’s primary adversary would be the Joker, though Two-Face was also expected to appear.

Batman: The Dark Knight. Source: Unseen64.

Open world Batman

What was meant to set Batman: The Dark Knight apart from its predecessor was its open-world design. Pandemic Studios planned to let players explore Gotham City on foot, glide using Batman’s cape, and drive the Batmobile or Batpod motorcycle. The game was to be mission-driven, with tasks reflecting key events from the film expected to take center stage.

And… that’s essentially all we know about the gameplay of Batman: The Dark Knight. From the limited information available, the game appeared set to resemble what we would see years later in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batman: The Dark Knight. Source: Unseen64.

Project timeline

Work on Batman: The Dark Knight began in 2006, when Pandemic Studios’ Bravo team kicked off the project. The game was initially being developed using technology designed for the PlayStation 2, and the idea of making it an open-world title emerged over time; at first, the team had considered a linear structure. Despite the project’s limitations, the early results reportedly impressed singer Bono, who visited Pandemic Studios during a U2 tour and got a glimpse of a very early version of the game.

Over time, the project was transitioned to the Odin engine, designed for seventh-generation consoles and primarily used for The Saboteur and other open-world games. The decision was made to transform The Dark Knight into an open-world experience. That’s when the project began to fall apart.

The switch to a new graphics engine led to unforeseen compatibility issues with the work the developers had completed so far. The developers rolled up their sleeves and set to work repairing the project. Unfortunately, the complications proved so severe that delivering a finished game in time for the film’s theatrical release became impossible. After Elevation Partners was acquired by Electronic Arts, the new publisher granted the developers extra time, pushing the release of Batman: The Dark Knight to December 2008.

Despite their tireless efforts, the developers were unable to resolve all the issues. It’s true that The Dark Knight was technically playable, but the game was riddled with bugs, and both the lighting system and Batman’s character model caused significant frame rate drops.

Batman: The Dark Knight. Source: Unseen64.

The fall of Batman and its consequences

After Gary Oldman inadvertently revealed too much - telling journalists about the game and mentioning scenes like Batman soaring over Gotham and a virtual Commissioner Gordon using the Bat-Signal - the project could no longer be kept under wraps. Determined to finish the game, EA expanded the development team to over 100 people. Unfortunately, the issues with Batman were too deeply rooted to be resolved. In October 2008, the publisher made the decision to cancel the project entirely.

Unofficial reports suggest that the failure of Batman: The Dark Knight may have cost Electronic Arts as much as $100 million in potential revenue. The setback also took a toll on Pandemic Studios, which was forced to close its Brisbane branch in February 2009. Although the team completed The Saboteur, Pandemic Studios remained on the industry map only until November 2009, when it was shut down.

Batman: The Dark Knight. Source: Unseen64.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. EA was so wary after the Batman debacle that it chose not to renew the license. Seeing a chance to revive the franchise, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment gave the go-ahead for another Batman game: Batman: Arkham Asylum. But that's a topic for another story...

To wrap up, many graphics and other materials from Pandemic Studios’ Batman: The Dark Knight survived, including a film created by the Unseen64 team (see below).

Batman: The Dark Knight

cancelled

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• Overview

• Batman (character)
• Pandemic Studios
• cancelled games
• Necro Gaming