The first video games based on James Gunn's and Peter Safran's DC Universe are still years away from being revealed, but the co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios have revealed they are actively working with the various WB Games teams.
Speaking at a DC Studios presentation, the duo explained that they are working closely with the WB Games division, assisting studios like Mortal Kombat creator NetherRealm and Batman: Arkham developer Rocksteady on character design and story.
“We work incredibly closely with JB Perrette [CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games], who runs that division, and it's really the first time it's ever been this way at Warner Brothers,” Safran explained. “James and I sit with literally the guys that run the studios underneath JB, whether it's NetherRealm or whether it's Rocksteady, sit with them and talk about characters and stories that we're interested in and that they're interested in.”
Gunn added that they are seeing designs for projects "in their very earliest stages," which allows them to provide feedback and advice during the initial planning stages.
“We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages," Gunn said. "We talk about those. We talk about when they're talking about what the story might be, we say, ‘Well, maybe you want to go this way because we're planning on maybe doing something with this character and so forth and so on,’ and help to deal with that.”
“But it's been great, and we've enjoyed it enormously,” Safran continued. “Everything had been so siloed, and now that's completely broken down, and it's been great. Because it also applies to consumer products and experiences and everything that DC touches runs up through us now, which is awesome.”
If you don't include Peacemaker, which was originally a DCEU project, the rebooted DC Universe began last year with the Creature Commandos animated series. However, the first blockbuster film in the "Gods and Monsters" chapter will be Superman, which flies into theaters in July, and marks the true beginning of the DCU.
Unfortunately, fans will have to wait a bit longer for a video game inspired by the DCU, as Gunn revealed they are still "a couple of years" away from revealing it.
“Yeah, it's a couple years, but we've had some pretty active involvement in some stuff coming up,” Safran added. “It's really interesting.”
WB Games has found itself in a bit of a rough patch these past couple of years with the commercial flop of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the failed crossover fighting game MultiVersus. But there's certainly no shortage of talent at the company, which is home to Rocksteady Studios, best known for the Batman: Arkham series, and NetherRealm Studios, creators of the acclaimed Injustice and Mortal Kombat fighting games. There's also Monolith Productions which is developing a single-player Wonder Woman game, although there are reports that it's in a troubled state right now.
We're not quite sure what the first video games based on the DCU will be WB Games has previously stated that they want to focus on its four most successful brands: Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter/Hogwarts Legacy, and DC, "in particular Batman."
There have been reports that Rocksteady is currently working on a single-player Batman game, although it's unclear if this will be a new Batman: Arkham game or something related to the DCU. A more recent rumor suggested that Rocksteady was developing a new game based on the Batman Beyond animated series exclusively for PlayStation.
Although we're still years away from a full-fledged DCU-inspired game, Gunn and Safran hinted that elements from the shared universe could appear in already-established games, like Fortnite.
“When you talk about interaction with our video game guys, with our gaming department, those are also things that historically there wasn't a lot of collaboration on,” DC Studios co-chief Safran said during a recent DC Universe presentation. “Now it's, hey, we're talking to Fortnite. Which characters should we focus on? Literally, James is signing off on designs.”
“I'm giving notes on designs,” Gunn added.
Does that mean we will see character skins inspired by the upcoming Superman movie added to the popular battle royale game?