A report into the making of $200 million flop Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has shed new light on Rocksteady’s troubled release as well as what’s next for the studio.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was panned by critics upon launch and had extremely low player numbers on Steam. Some of the frustration stemmed from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League not being another Batman game from Rocksteady, despite it being set within the same Arkhamverse.
The developer’s single player Batman Arkham series is much-loved by fans, with 2011’s Batman: Arkham City in particular held up as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, superhero video games of all time. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, on the other hand, is a live service third-person combat game in which Batman is a villain. Publisher Warner Bros. soon admitted the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League contributed to a $200 million hit to revenue.
Bloomberg spoke to a number of sources who revealed how Rocksteady went from working on an original multiplayer game codenamed Stones to a live service Suicide Squad game amid what was described internally as a culture of “toxic positivity” that “discouraged criticism.” The original plan was to release Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice league in 2019 or 2020, but a number of development issues over the years as well as Rocksteady’s lack of live service and multiplayer expertise, combined to cause the game to suffer significant delays.
Bloomberg said that despite Suicide Squad’s clear failings as Warner Bros. and Rocksteady chased the volatile live service trend, management would insist everything would come together eventually. According to Bloomberg, Warner Bros. executives had told Rocksteady staff they expected Suicide Squad to become a billion-dollar franchise. Clearly, it did not.
What happens next? According to Bloomberg, Rocksteady staff were told in February 2024 the company was understaffed compared to other video game publishers, suggesting job cuts are not on the way. Many staff at Rocksteady are now said to be working on a director’s cut version of Warner Bros. blockbuster video game Hogwarts Legacy, while studio leadership pitches a new single-player game “which would return Rocksteady to its roots.”
Warner Bros. did not comment on the report.
Meanwhile, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League appears set to receive new content (the game recently teased the introduction of Mrs. Freeze as a playable character) in the short-term, but there are question marks over Warner Bros.’ commitment long-term. The company has, however, revealed Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR game developed by Camouflaj, maker of the Iron Man VR game, and set for release exclusively on the Meta Quest 3 later in 2024.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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