According to Rocksteady, Batman: Arkham Knight has received an “M for Mature” rating from the ESRB. The previous installments of Rocksteady’s Batman franchise were rated “T for Teen”. This is a bit of a surprise for the Rocksteady team because they weren’t aiming for the “M” rating. Sefton Hill, founder of Rocksteady and game director on Arkham Knight stated “From our point of view, we never wrote it or made it with a rating in mind. We never did that in the previous two games… We just felt that this is the story that we really wanted to tell.”
The “M” rating restricts younger gamers from buying the game without an adult, and when asked about it Hill said “I’m not blind to the fact that [the M rating] does mean some fans will miss out… I don’t want to be oblivious to that fact. It would have been wrong to water down the game and deliver a story we didn’t believe in to keep the game ‘mass market’ or enable it for more people. We feel that’s the wrong way to go about it. We said we love the story and we don’t want to jeopardize that.”
Earlier in the development process, Hill received an email from Warner Bros pointing out key scenes that will cause “issues” which would lead the game toward an “M” rating. “I was really freaked out because the solution was to lose the scenes,” Hill said. “But they were key scenes! We couldn’t lose them! I got the email. I’m freaked out. I thought this was going to destroy the game, everything I’m passionate about… I was building myself up for this big argument. I didn’t get much sleep…”
“I got on the phone the next day with Ames Kirshen, the VP of Production at Warner Bros. Interactive,” Hill continued. “The first thing he asked me was what I wanted to do.” Hill stated his plan and that was it.
So what do you think gamers? Does the “M” rating hurt the game in any way? Let us know in the comment section and for all things Batman: Arkham Knight, stay tuned to New Gamer Nation.