Batman Arkham Vets Looking To Revive 60-Year-Old Franchise

Summary Atomic Arcade, led by ex-Warner Bros. developer Ames Kirshen, is reviving the G.I. Joe franchise in gaming.

The new game is expected to target a considerably older demographic, offering a more mature take on G.I. Joe.

The success of Atomic Arcade's team with Batman: Arkham series could be key to a successful G.I. Joe game.

Hasbro has teamed up with Batman: Arkham veterans to revive the G.I. Joe franchise in the gaming space. Last year, US developer Atomic Arcade, led by ex-Warner Bros. developer Ames Kirshen, announced that the project had moved from the concept phase into the pre-production phase after getting the go-ahead from publisher Wizards of the Coast.

Atomic Arcade's G.I. Joe game is expected to center around Snake Eyes, one of the original and most popular members of the G.I. Joe team whose skills involve stealth, martial arts, and being a master swordsman. The proposed idea is to skew considerably older with its targeted demographic than recent game adaptations for G.I. Joe, such as 2020's team-based third-person shooter G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout or the mobile strategy game G.I. Joe: War On Cobra.

Related G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout PC Review - These Toys Are A Bit Flimsy G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout nails the tone of the property, but this doesn't hide its mediocre third person shooter gameplay and repetitive missions.

G.I. Joe Needs To Find A Way To Resonate With Modern Audiences Again

The Franchise Has Suffered Commercial Failures In Recent Years

Close

The G.I Joe franchise has suffered commercial failures in recent years, with all three of Paramount's G.I. Joe films receiving negative reviews from critics, and the last one, Snake Eyes, only grossing $40 million worldwide against an $88–110 million budget, losing Paramount $88 million. It's clear that with the franchise not being as much of a success as it once was and potentially not resonating with modern mainstream global audiences, Atomic Arcade will need to essentially change the IP’s status in gaming, much like 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum did for the Dark Knight after a string of titles such as Batman: Vengeance or Batman: Dark Tomorrow that were not warmly received by critics.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kirshen described the vision for Atomic Arcade's game as "a much more edgy, contemporary, mature take on G.I. Joe to really suit what we felt we needed to have this IP and game resonate with a modern consumer." While the original franchise was intended to sell toys to children, as with many cartoons of its time, audiences now want content that grows with them, and Kirshen has pointed out that those who grew up with this IP back in the days of Real American Hero at its peak in the '80s and '90s are now fathers and uncles, and these are the mass consumers of these AAA consoles and PC platforms. Therefore, the idea to target adults could be a way to bring the franchise back in a major way, telling a more mature story that could still appeal to nostalgic fans of the original while also targeting a modern gaming audience.

This also seems to be an approach Paramount is taking with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, another IP that saw a huge surge in popularity around the time of G.I. Joe's main success. In that case, the original comics were much darker and more adult-skewing, but movies and cartoons were made to be more family-friendly to encourage toy sales. The studio is aware of these two types of demographics and is producing the more family-friendly Mutant Mayhem movie spin-off TMNT: Mutants Unleashed, as well as a God of War-esque story-driven single-player title based on the more mature TMNT: The Last Ronin comics.

Related What A Transformers & G.I. Joe Crossover On PS5 & Xbox Could Look Like Transformers and G.I. Joe have met in several realms of media, but never in a video game. Here's why that should change sooner rather than later.

Atomic Arcade's Team's Success With Batman: Arkham Could Be Key To A Successful G.I. Joe Game

A Fresh Take On The Franchise That Retains The Elements Fans Love

Close

Kirshen and his team have seen success in the past with licensed games, including the movie tie-in for 2004's Spider-Man 2 and Marvel's Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, then working on the aforementioned Batman: Arkham series and Injustice: Gods Among Us for Warner Bros., all of which received high praise from fans. With the Batman: Arkham series in particular, Rocksteady opted not to do a movie tie-in for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight universe - instead other WB-owned studios seemed to be working on that - but rather looked back at the elements the team loved as fans from the comics and other Batman media, filling the games with nods to other characters who may not have been represented in the films much by that point, casting beloved voice talent from the acclaimed 90s animated series, but also telling its own unique story that gave the studio the freedom to play around more within that universe and keep players engaged.

Whereas the films were also restricted to being PG-13 affairs - even though The Dark Knight did receive complaints from parents who argued it should have been rated R at the time - Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games were allowed to go into darker territory, with its final entry, Batman: Arkham Knight, securing a "M-For-Mature" rating, which is the gaming equivalent of an R. If the upcoming G.I. Joe title could follow this pattern by carving its own narrative that could reference fan-favorite characters from past G.I. Joe cartoons, movies or comics, they could repeat history.

The character of Snake Eyes is perfect for a video game with his ninja commando skillset. If Atomic Games is looking to make a more adult-skewing title that doesn't need to spring into huge action setpieces constantly, Snake Eyes grants them the opportunity to deliver some of the stealth-based espionage action seen in more mature-skewing gaming titles such as Metal Gear Solid, Syphon Filter or Splinter Cell - titles that fans of the G.I. Joe series may have also grown up with - or even the Predator sections of the Batman: Arkham series while combining it with some of the acclaimed swordplay seen in more recent titles such as Ghost of Tsushima to provide a satisfying modern gameplay experience.

With G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes currently in pre-production, it may be some time before fans get a proper look at what Atomic Arcade has in store. The potential is certainly there, however, and considering its developer's track record with licensed IPs and how Kershen is a self-proclaimed fan of the IP, it's clear that the team will put the same care into adapting it as they did with the likes of Batman: Arkham, making it a title that's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz