Where will Batman's next Arkham adventure take him? (Screenshot from "Batman: Arkham City") (All rights reserved - Warner Bros / Rocksteady)

A new game in the Batman Arkham franchise will arrive in 2013, announced Time Warner's CFO and CAO John Martin, citing it during an investors' call as proof of a "strong games release" year for the company.

Batman: Arkham Asylum had defied expectations by wrangling a highly praised game out of a well used license, thanks to respectful character development and suitably punchy combat.

That was in 2009, and by 2011 Rocksteady Studios had produced Batman: Arkham City, subject to similar levels of accolade; a special edition became a launch title at the Nintendo Wii U's debut in late 2012.

Warner Bros' Montreal-based studio is a candidate for the new game's development, having been set up in 2010 with a focus on DC Comics characters and overseeing the transfer of Arkham City from PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to Wii U.

Outside of the Arkham franchise, ol' Bats has recently appeared in Lego Batman 2, DC Universe Online, and fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which has a DC-based successor, Injustice: Gods Among Us, due in April.