The Arkham game has reportedly been canceled

Recent reports suggest that a Batman: Arkham Shadow the sequel was in development but has now been cancelled. These reports have surfaced just a day after widespread layoffs hit Meta's Reality Labs division, resulting in the closure of three separate VR development studios, including Sanzaru Games, which was reportedly working on this Batman: Arkham Shadow continuation.

Technically the second one Batman: Arkham VR game and the 10th entry in the Batman Arkhamverse, Batman: Arkham Shadow released exclusively on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in October 2024. Developed by Camouflaj, the same studio behind the 2020s Marvel's Iron Man VR, Batman: Arkham Shadow received very positive reviews at launch, with many critics praising the game's ability to authentically capture the feel of Rocksteady Batman: Arkham games in a new medium. Batman: Arkham Shadow received a Game Award, New York Game Award, and a DICE Award, and it currently has a 100% Critics Recommend rating on OpenCritic.

batman-arkham-games-ranked-game-rant feature

Family

I recently marathoned the Batman Arkham games, and here are my official rankings

I finally completed a marathon of the main Arkham series, and while it's hard to choose, in the end I think there is a clear winner.

The sequel to Batman: Arkham Shadow has reportedly been canceled

batman-arkham-shadow-rat-king-the-key-to-the-future-games

On Monday, January 12, the New York Times reported that Meta planned to lay off 10-15% of the staff in its Reality Labs division in an effort to move away from Virtual Reality development and toward new augmented reality technology and AI. On January 13, Meta officially confirmed that they had closed three studios under their Reality Labs banner: Sanzaru Games, Armature, and Twisted Pixel. While Sanzaru is best known for developing Wrath of Asgard and its 2023 sequel (the highest rated Meta Quest game), Armature delivered the acclaimed Resident Evil 4 The Meta Quest 2 port and Twisted Pixel have just been released Marvel's Deadpool VR. Now, a new report suggests there's even more tragic news to be found beneath those layoffs.

Aftermath reported on January 14 that, according to former Meta employees who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity, Sanzaru Games was working on a sequel to Batman: Arkham Shadowand that after the studio's closure, the game is likely no longer in development. Aftermath's sources also told them that Camouflaj, the studio behind the original Batman: Arkham Shadowhad also been affected by the Meta layoffs, reportedly leaving “only a handful of employees” at the studio now tasked with working on the “new user experience” for upcoming Meta hardware.

On January 15, UploadVR published its own report confirming Aftermath's claims. According to UploadVR's anonymous sources, a Batman: Arkham Shadow the sequel was in the works at Sanzaru Games and that it is now completely canceled following the studio's closure this week. UploadVR's report also confirms that Camouflaj has been hit hard by Meta's layoffs. According to UploadVR, only three VR studios are still active on Meta: Beat Games, BigBox and Ouro Interactive.

Rumors of one Batman: Arkham Shadow the sequel first appeared in September 2025, when Commissioner Gordon actor Mark Rolston said during Fan Expo Chicago 2025 that “We're about to start another one of these.” While development cycles can change from studio to studio and project to project, actors are usually brought into the booth at least a bit into development, suggesting that the purported Batman: Arkham Shadow the sequel would have been in full production when it was canceled this week.

In its own reporting of these layoffs, Kotaku received confirmation from a Meta spokesperson that Camouflaj was affected by the layoffs but that it would not be shut down. Kotaku's report also includes a general statement from Meta regarding the layoffs across its Reality Labs division. The statement reads:

“We said last month that we were moving some of our investment from Metaverse to Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”