Virtual reality needs a defining game, says Batman: Arkham VR publisher

Batman: Arkham VR came as something of a shock during E3 2016. Not only because it was one of the few things that hadn’t been leaked widely before the show started, but that it awarded the “best game” crown by many visitors.

You can read our thoughts on it here (spoiler alert – we think it’s awesome), but David Haddad, Warner Interactive Entertainment’s boss, isn’t sure it will be the defining game that virtual reality desperately needs.

Arkham VR is slated for an October release, around the same time as the PlayStation VR headset, but when talking to VentureBeat at E3 he suggested it was more a toe-dipping exercise for the company.

A truly defining game is yet to come.

“If you look at platforms, how they scale and when they scale they ultimately all have some piece of defining content,” he said.

“The Xbox had Halo. The Wii had Wii Sports. HBO had the Sopranos that propelled them.

“Hopefully this holiday we’ll see more of that defining content. But given that we’re in the early stages with this, we’ll see it evolve.”

READ: Best PlayStation VR games at E3 2016: Farpoint, Resident Evil 7, Batman and more

Rather than a platform defining title then, Warner’s Batman VR is still just a test at this stage in VR’s development – an impressive one, but a test nonetheless.

“It’s clearly early days for VR, but it’s a place where, particularly with beloved brands like Arkham and studios like Rocksteady, we just want to be in the space learning,” said Haddad.