Becoming The Batman: Why Arkham City’s Marketing is Sticky

Batman didn’t need powers. All he needed was a plan.

Bruce Wayne was an ordinary man in a sea of metahumans, mutants, gods, and gamma-radiated beasts. He used his wealth to become an avatar for vengeance. He traveled the world, amassing the knowledge to eradicate crime from Gotham because his family’s kindness and benevolence weren’t enough to save the city or them.

Imagine how excited I was when a little-known studio announced they were creating a new Batman game: Arkham Asylum.

I’m surprised I have thumbs with how much I played that game.

Arkham Asylum was fun. It was replayable. It was the most enjoyable Batman game I’d ever played.

And then we got a sequel!

I could gush about Arkham City, and I probably will in a different piece, but there was something better than the game.

It was the marketing effort to promote the game that I enjoyed the most. So much so that thirteen years later, Batman: Arkham City’s viral campaign is still my favorite marketing.

Let’s talk about why I enjoyed Rocksteady’s marketing promotion.

Let’s talk about the time I became Batman!

What Made Arkham City’s Marketing Successful?

Rocksteady Studios released Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009 to rapturous applause. The old Batman: The Animated Series crew was back together: Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn, and Paul Dini writing the story. Batman fans now had a game that got us closer to being our hero than we’d gotten before. We didn’t think it could get any better.

And then they started dropping the teaser videos for Batman: Arkham City.

🤯 is all I can say, folks.

Did Arkham City need to go all out on the marketing? Probably not. But it’s Batman, and Batman always goes the extra step.

Arkham City’s marketing was successful because it did three things well:

Arkham City’s marketing showed off an expanded world

If I had one complaint about Arkham Asylum, it’s that the game was limited to one area. Instead of helping Batman protect Gotham, gamers help him figure out the mystery of what’s happening at Arkham Asylum.

It was a great way to leave some meat on the bone for a second game, but different from what fans wanted from a Batman game.

Fans wanted Gotham City.

Years of seeing the city depicted in comic books, movies, television, and the first good Batman game makes us walk around the grounds of an insane asylum.

When were we going to stalk the shadows? Swing across Gotham on a grappling hook? Traverse the streets in the Batmobile?

Arkham City’s marketing what our appetites for a full Gotham game. Teaser trailers showed Batman swinging through the city, standing on rooftops, and moving in the shadows. It was everything we wanted, minus the Batmobile (we’d get the Batmobile experience in Arkham Knight…unfortunately…).

We’re still trapped with the inmates in an asylum, but the asylum is now a whole damn city, and that city is Gotham.

Arkham City’s marketing showed off an expanded rogues gallery

Riddler. Penguin. Catwoman. Two-Face. Poison Ivy. Soloman Grundy. Hugo Strange. Ra’s al Ghul. Mad Hatter. Man-Bat. Bane. Scarecrow.

Batman has one hell of a rogues gallery. And most of them are featured in Arkham City.

Check out this sweet intro to Dr. Hugo Strange, Arkham City’s Big Bad.

Or this one for The Penguin (and a special guest).

Or how about the “No Place for a Hero” trailer? I know that will get your blood pumping.

If those teaser trailers had been the only marketing, I’d still have bought Arkham City. It was a different video, however, that gave me an anticipatory fever.

Arkham City’s marketing made you a detective

As shown above, most of the teaser trailers showed off some gameplay and a few of the rogues you’d encounter in the game. Until the Riddler trailer, of course.

Full disclosure: I never gave a damn about The Riddler. He was a lower-tier Batman villain who had a cool costume. His appearances, from the Adam West-led television show to B:TAS to Batman Forever, made him a joke. He was a poor man’s Joker.

Then, they dropped his teaser trailer. Finally, I felt the menace, the horror, and the fear The Riddler can instill when depicted right.

And damn, was that a good depiction.

But that wasn’t all that drew me to the video. Look closer. Did you notice anything?

How about this? Notice anything here?

Yep, they put a riddle in The Riddler’s video. FANTASTIC!

Like a nerd, I rewound the video repeatedly, pausing when I thought I saw a number or a word. I solved the riddle, just like my favorite superhero.

When you put the words in order, you get the following message:

Riddle me this: what does it take to keep a sharp puppet on a strange string?

When you decipher the numbers, you get this message:

I AM BETTER THAN YOU.

Can you see why I was hyped to have a sequel to Arkham Asylum?

This marketing video convinced me to do something I’d never done before: purchase the game from a brick-and-mortar store at midnight the day it was released.

Great Marketing, Great Game

Marketers don’t need powers. All we need is a plan.

I’m so happy I got to experience such a fun marketing campaign. Seeing Rocksteady use the Riddler and his character traits to enhance Arkham City’s marketing experience was refreshing. You didn’t need to solve the riddle to enjoy the marketing or the game, but playing along as Batman before the game was released enhanced the overall experience.

If Batman is a detective, and I’m playing the game as Batman, that makes me a detective, too. I got to experience that feeling.