Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game was a failure for Warner Bros due to numerous problems resulting in a troubled development.
That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, which details a culture of perfectionism, an ill-fitting genre pivot and an ever-changing vision as the main reasons for the live service game’s failure.
During an earnings call last month, Warner Bros. revealed it had suffered a $200 million loss on Suicide Squad , while earlier in the year the company’s chief financial officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, stated that the release had “fell short of our expectations.” “.
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After Rocksteady’s third Batman: Arkham game, the studio first began work on an original multiplayer puzzle-solving game codenamed Stones. But in late 2016, staff were told by studio co-founders Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill that the team would move on to creating Suicide Squad. Hill explained this as a better option than making something from scratch, with the goal of releasing it in 2019 or 2020. As we now know, however, it then received numerous delays.
Warner Bros. convinced the studio to move Suicide Squad into an online multiplayer game with live service content, following the success of games like Destiny and League of Legends. As a result, Rocksteady grew from about 160 employees to over 250 over seven years, although many left the company after realizing they were working on a multiplayer game rather than the single-player games Rocksteady was known for.
The leaders’ vision for the game continued to change, with staff members confused by the switch to gunplay from melee combat. Another suggestion was customizable vehicles, with staff questioning why this made sense for superpowered villain characters – the idea was scrapped after months of work.
Hill, Rocksteady’s “perfectionist” co-founder and game director, created a backlog, with staff waiting weeks or months for their work to be reviewed. He gave up on ideas, tried to express his thoughts, and confessed that he doesn’t play similar competitive games like Destiny. The staff noted that the gameplay needed to be designed for repeat play as a live service, but the team struggled to avoid repetition.
Several sources described the company’s culture to Bloomberg as “toxic positivity,” with management promising that the game would eventually come together despite staff raising concerns. Despite similar failures in the industry (Anthem, Redfall), management was confident that Suicide Squad would still be a success.
Hill and Walker left Rocksteady before the game’s release and instead founded a new studio called Hundred Star Games. They reportedly courted potential recruits from Rocksteady by offering the opportunity to develop a game without the pressure of a major corporation like Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Rocksteady is still releasing regular updates to Suicide Squad, most recently a mid-season update in May. However, player numbers have dropped – on Steam, the game averages only a few hundred players at peak times.
“Rocksteady’s talent is so evident in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it almost overpowers the terrible decision to try and pull it off,” reads our Eurogamer Suicide Squad review.
