Batman: Arkham Knight gets Windows re-release this week

Warner Bros. has confirmed that Batman: Arkham Knight is returning to Windows this week, following the decision to pull it from sale in the face of numerous bugs and performance issues.

The launch of the latest game in the Batman: Arkham franchise, a triple-A big hitter for publisher Warner Bros., was marred by launch-day issues on the Windows platform. Ranging from crashes to performance issues, the flaws caused a flood of one-star reviews and resulted in the publisher withdrawing it from sale until the issues could be resolved. Since then, the company has issued patches for existing owners but has kept the game off Steam and other digital distribution services until it is certain the flaws have been properly fixed.

Now, the company has released an announcement stating that the game will be going back on digital shop shelves on the 28th of October, along with a patch which brings the Windows release to the same point content-wise as its less buggy console stablemates. Upon re-release, the game will include the new features Photo Mode, Big Head Mode, a new skin for Batman, and the ability to select different characters in the combat challenges. The remaining new content, however, is available only to those who have purchased a season pass for the title - something owners have been railing against, claiming that Warner Bros. should give the content out freely to all Windows players as compensation for the parlous state of the game at launch.

'We want to give particular thanks to the members of the PC community who took the time to give us clear, detailed feedback and bug reporting,' a company spokesperson said of the patch's impending release.