Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League - What Happened?
Summary
TLDRThe video script details the tumultuous development and eventual launch of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,' a game by Warner Brothers Games and Rocksteady Studios. Initially met with skepticism from Batman fans, the game underwent numerous delays, staff changes, and creative direction shifts. The title, which was not a traditional Batman game, faced challenges from its announcement in 2010 to its eventual release. The game's development was plagued with issues, including a need for constant internet connection, a grindy gameplay loop, and a controversial monetization model. Despite being developed by the reputable Rocksteady, the game failed to meet expectations, with poor critical reception and declining player counts post-launch. The script also discusses the departure of Rocksteady's founders and the broader implications for the AAA gaming industry, particularly concerning live service games.
Takeaways
- 🚀 The development of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League' was fraught with challenges, starting from its announcement to its eventual release, facing criticism from fans and numerous delays.
- 🎮 Warner Brothers Games Montreal initially worked on the project before it was moved to Rocksteady Studios, the developer behind the successful 'Arkham' series.
- 🔄 There were multiple cancellations and shifts in development direction, with the project starting as early as 2010 and undergoing significant changes over the years.
- 💣 The game's development was further complicated by a need for an online multiplayer focus, which was a departure from Rocksteady's previous single-player narrative-driven games.
- 📉 The game's launch was met with technical issues and server problems, leading to a poor critical and commercial reception.
- 📈 Despite the negative response, Warner Brothers expressed intentions to double down on live service games, indicating a continued commitment to this model for future titles.
- 🤝 The departure of Rocksteady's founders, Jamie Walker and Seon Hill, during the development of 'Suicide Squad' likely had an impact on the project's direction and team morale.
- 🌐 The game required a constant internet connection and featured a battle pass system, which was met with significant backlash from fans.
- 📊 Sales and player numbers for 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League' dropped significantly after launch, failing to meet expectations and leading to a tough year for WB's games business.
- 🚧 Delays in the game's release were attributed to the desire to deliver the best quality project, but ultimately did not prevent the game's underwhelming performance.
- 🎉 The game did have some positive moments, such as the inclusion of Kevin Conroy's final portrayal of Batman, but these were not enough to save the game's reception.
Q & A
What was the initial reaction of Batman fans to the announcement of a Suicide Squad game by Warner Brothers games and Rocksteady Studios?
-The initial reaction of a significant portion of Batman fans was negative. This was primarily due to the game not featuring Batman as the main character and other reasons that will be discussed in the video.
Why did Warner Brothers decide to move forward with the development of a Suicide Squad game despite fan opposition?
-Warner Brothers had been attempting to develop a violent cooperative supervillain team game for 14 years, and despite fan opposition, multiple delays, and issues, they decided to proceed with the project.
What was the original plan for WB Games Montreal after they completed Arkham Origins?
-After completing Arkham Origins and its DLC, the main staff at WB Games Montreal moved on to their next unannounced project, which was a Suicide Squad game.
What was the connection between the Suicide Squad game and the cinematic release of The Suicide Squad?
-Warner Brothers aimed to develop a film to make the team of unstable villains a household name, which coincided with the development of the Suicide Squad game.
What happened to the initial Suicide Squad game concept developed by WB Games Montreal?
-The initial Suicide Squad game concept developed by WB Games Montreal was eventually cancelled. The reasons for the cancellation included negative reception to the film and dissatisfaction from WB executives with the progress of the game.
How did the development of the Suicide Squad game impact Rocksteady's work on other projects?
-The Suicide Squad concept was shifted over to Rocksteady after it was cancelled at WB Games Montreal. This move likely affected Rocksteady's work on other projects, including a potential multiplayer project and a rumored Superman game.
What was the working title of the Batman title that WB Games Montreal was pre-producing while working on Suicide Squad?
-The Batman title that WB Games Montreal was pre-producing while working on Suicide Squad was known under the temporary working title of 'Project Sabbath'.
What was the reported reason for the delay of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League until 2022?
-The delay was attributed to the desire to deliver the best quality project. However, the game was further delayed into 2023 and eventually to February 2024 due to ongoing development challenges.
What were the controversies surrounding Rocksteady during the development of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?
-Controversies included a report of a toxic work environment at Rocksteady, with allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Additionally, there were high-profile and sudden exits of key personnel, including the founders of Rocksteady.
How did the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League perform in terms of sales and player reception?
-The game underperformed both critically and commercially. It fell short of expectations, experienced a significant drop in player count, and received negative reviews due to technical issues and dissatisfaction with the game's design.
What was Warner Brothers' response to the underperformance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?
-Despite the poor reception, Warner Brothers announced that they would continue to invest in live service games and planned to double down on this approach, aiming to expand the longevity of their game franchises.
Outlines
😀 Introduction to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's Development Saga
The video script begins by setting the stage for a deep dive into the development history of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League'. It discusses the initial lack of enthusiasm from Batman fans and the game's evolution over many years, despite fan disapproval and numerous challenges. The narrative touches on the game's announcement, development hurdles, and the shift in development from WB Montreal to Rocksteady Studios, known for their work on the Arkham series. It also mentions the concurrent work on 'Batman: Arkham VR' and how it influenced the development timeline.
😶 The Cancellation of WB Montreal's Suicide Squad and Transition to Rocksteady
This paragraph delves into the cancellation of the Suicide Squad game by WB Montreal and the subsequent shift of the project to Rocksteady Studios. It outlines the critical reception of David Ayer's 'Suicide Squad' film and its impact on the game's development. The summary also touches on WB Montreal's pivot to a different project, 'Gotham Knights', which was initially a Damian Wayne-centric game. The narrative highlights the challenges faced by WB Montreal and the eventual transformation of their unannounced projects due to various factors, including leaks and a shift in direction.
😟 The Challenges and Controversies of Rocksteady's Development
The third paragraph focuses on the difficulties and controversies that Rocksteady faced during the development of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League'. It discusses the game's transition to a live service model, the technical challenges of creating an online multiplayer game, and the high employee turnover within the company. The narrative also addresses the impact of the delays caused by story rewrites and the competitive AAA game development environment in London. Additionally, it mentions the negative fan reaction to the game's requirement of an internet connection and the inclusion of a battle pass system.
😡 Public Backlash and Delays Leading to Suicide Squad's Release
This section covers the public backlash against 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League' due to its live service model and the multiple delays that pushed the game's release further into the future. It details the initial hype surrounding the game, the disappointment from fans expecting a traditional single-player Batman experience, and the subsequent delays that affected the game's development and release. The narrative also highlights the controversy surrounding the game's requirement of a constant internet connection and the inclusion of downloadable content.
😞 The Launch Disaster and Founders' Exit from Rocksteady
The fifth paragraph discusses the problematic launch of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League', including technical issues and player dissatisfaction. It outlines the various bugs that players encountered, the game's poor critical reception, and the significant drop in player count following its release. The narrative also covers the departure of Rocksteady's founders, Jamie Walker and Seon Hill, and the impact of their exit on the studio and the game's development. Additionally, it mentions the commercial underperformance of the game and the challenges faced by the development team in the aftermath of its launch.
😤 WB's Commitment to Live Service Games Despite Setbacks
The final paragraph addresses Warner Brothers' continued commitment to the live service game model, despite the failure of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League'. It highlights the company's plans to double down on live service titles and the announcement of a new Harry Potter live service game. The narrative criticizes the decision to continue with this model, given the recent failures, and questions the strategic direction of the company. It also expresses hope for Rocksteady's survival post the debacle and invites viewers to share their thoughts on similar situations in the gaming industry.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Warner Brothers games
💡Rocksteady Studios
💡Suicide Squad
💡Games as a Service (GaaS)
💡Live Service
💡Co-op Multiplayer
💡Cyberpunk 2077
💡Metacritic
💡JB Paret
💡State of Play
💡Kevin Conroy
Highlights
Warner Brothers games and Rocksteady studio's latest game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has had a troubled development history.
The game was not initially well-received by Batman fans, partly due to it not featuring Batman as the main character.
WB Games Montreal, known for Arkham Origins, took over the project after Rocksteady was busy with Batman Arkham VR.
The concept of a cooperative super-villain team game was attempted multiple times over 14 years before moving forward.
The Suicide Squad game's development began as early as 2010, initiated by former DC entertainment Chief Creative Officer, Jeff Johns.
WB Montreal's Suicide Squad game was unofficially confirmed but was eventually cancelled, leading to the project being handed over to Rocksteady.
The cancellation of WB Montreal's Suicide Squad game was reportedly due to WB executives not being impressed with the progress.
Rocksteady, known for the Arkham series, had to pause development for story rewrites, causing further delays.
High employee turnover and adaptation to a games-as-a-service model contributed to the game's multiple delays.
The game's requirement for an internet connection, battle pass, and downloadable content were unpopular with fans.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League faced technical issues and bugs post-launch, impacting its reception.
The game's founders, Jamie Walker and Seon Hill, left Rocksteady a year before the game's launch.
Suicide Squad underperformed commercially and critically, with declining player counts post-launch.
WB Discovery's CFO acknowledged that the game fell short of expectations, leading to a tough year for the games business.
Despite the poor reception, WB Games plans to double down on live service games, aiming to develop a Harry Potter live service game.
The development history and launch issues of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League serve as a cautionary tale for the gaming industry.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
hello and welcome to another episode of
what happened where I am dispensing with
the usual intro due to the remote
control device in the back of my skull
that will go off if I take too long
thanks Waller so do let me get straight
to it Warner Brothers games and
Rocksteady studi latest effort is a
title that from the time of its
announcement to its eventual release
wasn't exactly desired by a hefty chunk
of Batman fans with one of the main
reasons being it no it's not a Batman
game but for a multitude of reasons that
we'll be getting into WB went forward
with the squad anyhow in fact they tried
several times to go forward with the
idea of a violent Cooperative super
villain Team game over the course of 14
years and nothing not the please of fans
nor multiple delays snags problems and
sudden departures was ever going to
change that so grab your mallets
boomerangs various laser firing
artillery and tons of battle pass
exclusive gear as I answer the question
what happened to Suicide Squad kill the
Justice League
I can tell you this for free there's a
lot of backstory to this one like an
obscene amount of backstory so let's
just dive bomb right into it after
rocksteady's Arkham Knight released back
in 2015 which psychic damage was almost
a decade ago fans started to wonder what
was taking so long for the highly
respected London based Studio to
announce their next big project some of
you out there however may remember they
were busy for a another year or so
developing the unmemorable Batman Arkham
VR this is important to our story
because it meant that wb's plans to push
the suicide squad had to fall to someone
else at least at that time that someone
else would be WB Games moral who are
best known as the developers of the
redheaded stepchild of the Arkham verse
Arkham Origins it it's literally in its
name to this day I don't know why this
prequel is intentionally ignored and
never included in remasters or
re-releases but yeah it is what it is I
guess anyway once WB Montreal completed
Origins and its DLC their main staff
moved on to their next unannounced
project which then caused outside of
some support work for other WB owned
Studios a huge gap in their work history
this unannounced project was in fact a
Suicide Squad game which well yeah was
never made official official has had
enough evidence linked to it over the
years to safely confirm there was of
course Warner Brothers push to start
developing a film to hopefully make this
team of unbalanced nerell as a household
name then there was the fact that both
Arkham Origins and its companion game
Blackgate implied that the squad were
going to be throwing their uh Kookie
deranged hats into the video game ring
although these hints would feature some
characters that wouldn't actually appear
in the release product or at least not
yet maybe I don't know but honestly
before all that I I mean that's not even
where all this technically begins
because even though WB Montreal started
working on suicide squad in Earnest in
late 2013 maybe early 2014 to coincide
with the in development movie the
origins of the game start all the way
back to
2010 yeah you heard that right former DC
entertainment Chief creative Officer
Jeff Johns said in a San Diego ComicCon
panel that a hardcore violent Suicide
Squad video game was in development but
provided no details other than that now
WB Montreal was only just founded in
2010 so it might be that the project
actually started up at a completely
different Studio or it had just kicked
off P production in Montreal by a much
smaller team while the majority of the
workforce focused on Arkham Origins if I
was a betting Skeleton Man I think it's
more likely the latter because Mr John's
dropped more hints that such a game was
still in development in 2012 which moves
it closer to when WB Montreal would be
available but we can't be absolutely
sure I did reach out to two former staff
members who were at the studio during
that relevant time period but their only
comment was sadly no comment and get
used to that by the way and really
despite the facts that we do have I
wouldn't be surprised if there was a
third studio in the mix at some point I
mean hell even in 2024 we just found out
that monolith had been working on an
open world Nolan verse game that
featured the first implementation of
their Nemesis system so yeah crazier
[ __ ] has happened and crazier [ __ ] will
indeed
[Music]
continue what we do know for sure is
that WB Montreal's main team moved on to
Suicide Squad but like most AAA Studios
they also had another smaller team doing
pre-production on their next project
that being a Batman title starring Damen
Wayne and a crumbling dystopian Gotham
City which we'll get to in a bit it's
now roughly 2016 and David 's cinematic
adaptation of The Suicide Squad relased
to a very divisive I.E negative critical
backlash due to a Multiverse of reasons
that it actually might need its own what
happen story someday although I really
don't want to anyway once the Fallout
from the film started leveling off
reports began popping up that WB tongue
Cluckers and beard Strokers had decided
to Deb at the bomb that was lodged deep
within their Montreal Studio on Al
living their would be team of villains
now this cancellation might have had
something to do with the primarily
negative reception to the film or any
number of other outside factors but the
only confirmed one was what various
Outlets reported on which was that WB
execs were not impressed with what the
Montreal team had produced and
apparently that was enough to ax the
whole thing
this is where we finally make the
connection back to Rock Steady As The
Suicide Squad concept was then shifted
over to them which we'll get to in a
second I swear but I'd be remiss if I
didn't at least finish up with WB
Montreal with their main in development
project now snatched away they then
shifted to their secondary one the AFF
forementioned Damian Wayne concept which
was known under the temp working title
of project Sabbath somewhat ironically
it was reported along with a whole bunch
of other stuff that it was going to use
the Nemesis system that monolith had
repurposed from their cancell Batman
game and into Shadow of Mordor yo big
UPS to my boy garl the drunk I love you
baby it was in 2019 however that this
information along with the general plot
cast of characters and a significant
amount of concept art mysteriously
leaked onto the internet but by the time
it had Sabbath was already long dead it
seems sometime between 2016 and 2018
Damian Wayne's cape and cowl were ripped
away and perhaps incorporating the Co-op
multiplayer work they had started with
Suicide Squad Sabbath turned into what
we know today as Gotham Knights it's
very common for Studios to not just
throw away good designs and code and
instead find ways to repurpose them for
other projects and that's really likely
what happened here although I can't 100%
confirm it again the former staff
members I reached out to remain tight
lipped on this but if you look at the
Timeline well it really works out
especially when you consider when Gotham
knights was publicly revealed related to
this earlier this year the legendary
Josh Keaton wow said in a live stream he
had done several recording sessions as
Damen Wayne which shows just how far
along the game really was was he also
revealed it was not an Arkham verse
title and theorized that the reason the
entire project fell apart and was
cancelled was because of the leaks now
no disrespect to the man but that
doesn't really make sense logistically
because the leaks only happened in 2019
and Gotham knights was unveiled in 2020
so the cancellation or perhaps the
transition into a very different open
world Co-op game had to have happened
well before that it also doesn't make
sense from a financial standpoint cuz
why would a publisher just cancel a game
because some details of it got leaked
like games leak out all the time anyway
during all of this Rock Steady had their
own [ __ ] going on according to reports
they were working on a multiplayer
project that may or may not have been a
completely new all original Ip the other
thing they were working on according to
the internet at large was the fable
Superman game The Last son of Krypton
has had one of the worst streaks of
stinkers in video game history as pretty
much every solo game he's ever had isn't
really worth having and yeah I know this
sucks to say but I'm counting death and
returns in there too it's just it's just
disappointing you know just really
repetitive drawn out kind of boring and
the mechanic anyway the rumors of rock
steady working on a game starring The
Man of Steel wouldn't seem to die even
though they were just that rumors
according to a Bloomberg report from
earlier this year Rock said he basically
confirmed a soups game was never worked
on or ever even pitched so as far as I
can tell this was just a lot of Wishful
Whispers moving on their mysterious
multiplayer project seemed to go nowhere
or perhaps again the work done on it
might have been adapted to support the
suicide squad but I couldn't find
confirmation on that either remember the
no comment I got from the WB Montreal
employees well that goes doubly so with
most of the former Rock steadiers I also
contacted as you can imagine since kill
the Justice League is just a few months
old and WB being a pretty litigious and
let's be honest miserly company I didn't
expect many people willing to dish out
industry Secrets there was however one
anonymous source I spoke to that did
give me a shred of insight into Suicide
Squad once it had shifted over to rock
steady they revealed that the game's
development was put on pause while story
rewrites were happening in the
background which of course would have
slowed things down across several
disciplines while they weren't able to
provide details on what these story
changes were considering all we've
learned so far it could have been
literally anything if I was to Hazard a
guess though it may have been due to
complication surrounding the next
Suicide Squad film which went through
several writers and directors all
throughout 2016 to late 2018 which in
turn kept pushing back the release date
and could have possibly affected other
Suicide Squad projects my source also
cited to other things that may have
accounted for the multiple delays High
employee turnover and getting acclimated
to the games as a service development
pipeline my source wanted it to be noted
that this High turnover was not due to
dissatisfaction within rock steady but
rather the AAA Game Dev environment in
London which they described as very
competitive senior employees were often
getting headhunted and offered way more
money to join other Studios and while a
number of them would take up these deals
they would either get dissatisfied with
these new positions or suddenly be laid
off and return to Rocksteady once again
related to that Rocksteady upper
management also had to hire a consultant
with expertise in games as a service
development to evangelize the team and
get them educated on everything and
online action Co-op RPG had to offer as
at the time that's where the industry
looked like it was heading the only
other thing I can confidently put
forward though is that developing
Suicide Squad was undoubtedly a
technical nightmare as rock steady
talented as they may be hadn't really
tackled anything with the level of scope
and complexity that many modern online
games tend to to offer when they started
working on the Arkham Trilogy they
ramped up their development and ambition
in smooth and logical ways tightly
designed interconnected biomes with
clever and detailed level designs
expanding out into an open world that
was conservative in scope while still
offering plenty to do and explore and
finally adapting that City to support a
large vehicle for players to Traverse
the map while turning the graphical
Fidelity up to 12 so going from that to
having to design the very
architecturally different metropolis and
gameplay Loop that has to work with four
players killing dozens of enemies online
across multiple platforms as well as
stuffing as many different modifiers
stats weapons gear micro transactions
and DLC as the cackling corpse like WB
corporate Fat Cats wanted well I'm sure
it was a very stressful few years and
unfortunately all that effort and stress
would all be for not when Rock Steady
finally did announce kill the Justice
League at the August 2020 edition of
wb's short-lived DC fandom event there
was of course much grumbling from fans
it had been 6 years since there had been
a traditional singleplayer Batman game
and after the fandom event it seemed
like WB and its Associated Studios were
making anything but that this is because
they didn't announce one but two titles
that put a heavy fot focus on Co-op
multiplayer they're all about stats loot
season passes and not controlling Batman
now I know what some of you are going to
say why on Earth would they Greenlight
two of these things when the Square Enix
and Crystal Dynamics live service
Avengers game flopped so horribly well
time makes fools of us all because that
wasn't even out yet the fandom event was
held in August while Avengers failed to
assemble the following o October but
what about much later like when the
Avengers player count started to
suddenly dip well when your knee deep in
Triple A development and millions upon
millions of dollars and years upon years
of work are at stake when something gets
publicly announced in 99% of cases it's
far too late to Pivot or backpedal the
following has been said lots of times
and I'm going to say it again but when
something becomes hot like fortnite or
destiny lots of Publishers start rubbing
their hands together going oh this is
this is the new hot [ __ ] let let's do
that but given the prolonged nature of
video game development by the time they
actually release their version of that
popular thing it's far far too late and
they often end up failing in spectacular
and embarrassing ways Suicide Squad did
have one Saving Grace during its first
big reveal though and that was the fact
that its first trailer was all CGI and
bereft of any real gameplay so for a
sizable chunk of fans the benefit of the
doubt was being given sure this clearly
wasn't the shiny nextg Batman sequel
from a series that had sold over 30
million units worldwide but well it was
still rock steady and they had a proven
track record however that same track
record would be tarnished that same
month when a report began to circulate
that back in
2018 10 of rocksteady's 16 female
employees signed a letter of complaint
to the studio heads citing a toxic work
environment that fostered sexual
harassment demeaning comments and
various other forms of abuse this
scathing report would go on to reveal
that rock steady did very little to
reprimand or correct the behavior aside
from a single 1-hour seminar on proper
workplace etiquette once this story
broke out Rocksteady management did
confirm that the 2018 letter of
complaint had been filed
contrary to the new report said they did
take extensive measures to fix these
issues one female employee wound up
quitting the company altogether and
asked for Rocksteady management to
remove her name from the credits of
Suicide Squad as she no longer wanted to
be associated with this studio clearly
though things were not running all that
smoothly and this controversy wasn't
going to be the only one as it then
seemed to set off a chain reaction of NE
negative headlines massive delays fan
backlash and two high-profile and very
sudden
exits during the fandom event Suicide
Squad was given a loose 2022 launch
window but come March of 2022 they still
hadn't narrowed that down unfortunately
when Rock Steady did share news about
the release date they admitted it was
going to shift by a lot namely skipping
the entire year all together and moving
into another nebulous early
2023 the reason given of course was the
usual want to deliver the best quality
project thank you for your patience yada
yada yada and don't get me wrong that's
a good thing I mean I shudder to think
of the product that would have been
released if WB had insisted on a 2022
launch that wasn't however going to be
the only delay far from it just a few
months later at the 2022 Please wrap it
up Awards this early 2023 date then
shifted slightly again to Mid 2023 May
26 to be precise it would also include
the special mention that it would be
Kevin Conroy's last time portraying
Batman as he sadly passed away the month
earlier rip to a legend the bad [ __ ]
though really hit the fan during the
February 2023 state of play event or an
extended gameplay sequence was shown of
The Suicide Squad bouncing around
Metropolis talking in incessantly and
shooting guns and lasers at brightly
colored things during this long
presentation and the subsequent FAQ that
was posted online afterwards Rock Steady
confirmed the fears of many fans Suicide
Squad would need a constant internet
connection to play would have an
elaborate battle pass and would
consistently offer new downloadable gear
weapons costumes and characters on top
of that much like you guessed it The
Avengers game funnily enough around the
time this state of play aired online it
was announced that Avengers would no
longer be receiving any new content or
characters as Crystal Dynamics was now
moving on to other projects yeah not at
all a red flag is it WB the response to
this new Gameplay trailer and all that
horrible stuff I mentioned didn't go
down well I was met with plenty of
vitriol from many fans who just wanted a
good narrative-based singleplayer
superhero game something that outside of
a few key examples seem to be getting
rarer and rarer now at the time this
trailer aired kill the Justice League
was still slotted in as a May 2023
release so it took many by surprise that
just one month before that rock steady
decided to pump the brakes and announce
another massive delay this time to
February 2nd
2024 just going by the dozens of other
examples we've seen in the past this was
in all likelihood a delay designed to
fix massive amounts of bugs and
technical issues that the team just
weren't able to crack in time because
despite the many complaints fans lobbied
at the state of play reveal nothing
about kill the Justice League's in-game
economy or gameplay style would wind up
changing the official reason for this
next Mammoth delay was pretty much the
same one they said last time we have
made the tough but necessary decision to
take the time needed to work on getting
the game to be the best quality
experience for players thank you for our
amazing Community for the continued
support Pat I and understanding there is
much more to share in the months ahead
and we look forward to seeing you in
Metropolis next year now some fans the
most sweet innocent and naive ones mind
you took this delay as a good sign Rock
Steady had to know players were not
happy about well a lot of stuff so there
was some hope that this delay was not
only for polishing but by taking
consumer feedback into consideration and
an extensive bout of retooling but as I
outlined earlier this just wasn't going
to be the reality there was no way with
WB at the helm at least that suicide
squad's entire in-game economy SL scam
was going to be redesigned and there was
even more no way that the game playay or
mechanics would change either as it was
just simply too late for that remember
the game was nearing 2 years behind
schedule already and honestly in my
opinion the only reason it wasn't
squirted out sooner at wb's insistence
was probably rocksteady's Pedic agree
and push back from its Founders well
I've covered plenty of stories here on
what happened where a publisher does
take a step back looks at a near
completed project and says uh no yeah
this this isn't working let's just cut
our losses before we lose even more
money and cancel the whole damn thing
now while WB Discovery movie division
seems to be all about that shitty life
it's slightly different for video games
nowadays years upon years of more work
and in many cases way more money gets
poured into AAA gaming over say a movie
depending on its scope but the ceiling
for profits can sometimes be even higher
also you'll notice that most of the near
finish games I've covered before were
from earlier Generations where budgets
were significantly smaller than they are
today so in summary I guess by this
point after so many false starts and
cancelled pitches by multiple Studios
dating back to 2010 uh shifting over to
their Premier developer in full
production for at least 5 years and
promoted for two of them there was no
way WB was going to cancel or delay
Suicide Squad any longer the hype
machine had to start spinning but it was
going to be and stay a very uphill
battle quite frankly the Press did not
sugarcoat this situation as online
previews of Suicide Squad from an event
in January 2024 just a few weeks away
from launch were largely negative as
many outlets cited uncertainty about
pretty much everything journalists and
reviewers took issue with the now
familiar grindy nature of the gameplay
the messy UI the technical performance
just uh you know previews tend to be
pretty optimistic at the very least but
this time no one was pulling their
punches and you know it has to be said
that while a good portion of this
negativity was due to the game itself
burnout from this particular subgenre
must have been a Factor too as fans and
journalists have experienced the same
type of gameplay Loop pretty regularly
for the last few years including you
know superhero based ones and with all
the big hot hardcore gaming season
titles I've covered here on what
happened I've never seen the usually
glowing early previews be less than
glowing at least CD project red had the
foresite to only allow coverage of the
PC version of cyberpunk and Rockstar
Allowed no previews at all of the GTA
definitive collection [ __ ] show so
really the numbers did not lie and they
spelled disaster for rock steady and
Warner Brothers at Sac release
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day and so a disaster it indeed was
suicide squad's launch was played with a
Litany of problems bugs and backlash as
a part of the deluxe edition players
were given 72 hours of early access to
the game but because of a bizarre issue
that marked players progress as 100%
complete before even booting it up
servers had to be taken down for
maintenance to fix the Boo Boo and since
it's an online only game no one was able
to play it during that downtime which as
you can imagine made many gamers happy
those affected were given a a 2,000
Luther bucks which equated to around $20
of real world currencies so uh yeah not
off to a good start of course the game's
online connectivity in general was also
a big problem as even weeks after launch
roxet were still trying to crack down on
issues that were causing players to
desync or get booted from a session Al
together subsequent patches actually
made things worse for some players as
they weren't able to properly level
their characters or gear While others
would run into the infamous loading
Metropolis bug which wouldn't let
players progress at all because of all
of this the community for the game even
some of its stous and most Brave
Defenders started turning against it
sting immense dissatisfaction with all
these bugs the prospect of having to
kill and not play as some of their
favorite Heroes but of course the
monetization model as well it's bad
enough when the fully priced game you
paid for lacks basic functionality it's
another thing when that fully priced
game you paid for that's not working is
also constantly trying to incentivize
you to spend your money it should be no
surprise then that kill the Justice
League's aggregate review scores placed
it lower than both Avengers and Gotham
Knights and as the issues in bad press
began to pile up its player count
drastically went down but uh to some
Publishers critical reception can uh
sometimes be a little less of an
important factor when compared to
commercial reception and fortunately in
respect to Suicide Squad that actually
wasn't the case it just barely made the
top 10 of the bestselling games of
February 2024 according to NP PD numbers
being beaten out by the likes of 2023 is
Madden release Tekken 8 ff7 rebirth and
Hell divers 2 in slightly better but
still worse news Suicide Squad was the
number one game in the UK during the
first few days of its launch but fell to
third the next week and then 13th the
week after that while player counts are
hard to track across all platforms steam
numbers paint a pretty Grim picture when
the game launched it peaked at around
13,000 players which then nose dived
into three digits by the end of February
and as of the time of this writing it
regularly varies between 3 to 400
players
now okay during all these trials and
tribulations something that certainly
could have helped was strong experienced
leadership leadership who could rally
the team take decisive action and work
towards bettering the product in a
timely manner unfortunately that precise
type of experience wasn't really
available to Suicide squads developers
during its launch as the founders of
rock steady who had led on all their
games up to that point had left the
studio and had left the studio for a
while Jamie Walker and seon Hill in a
joint statement with Warner Brothers
explained that they were leaving after
18 years with the reason being as vague
as you'd expect a Suicide Squad killed
the Justice League nearly finished they
have both decided to leave Rock Steady
at the end of 2022 and will begin a new
adventure in gaming now it's typical
that towards the end of a given project
some creative leads feel that their job
is done so they decide to seek new
challenges elsewhere the problem is like
he was on all of rocksteady's Arkham
games sepon hill was suicide squad's
creative director and if you check your
dates his departure was not just 2 to 3
months before launch but rather over a
full year James Walker's departure
wasn't insignificant either because
while he didn't work on most games
directly in a creative sense who is
rocksteady's Studio director so he was
at the head of its daily operations now
obviously when these two exits were
planned and then announced Suicide Squad
was still on track for its early 2023
release but then it got delayed the full
year to 2024 and the studio was now
without two of its key people it's it's
not exactly known what prompted the
sudden exit if there was any other
factors aside from the official reason
and try to act surpris here I wasn't
able to contact either Mr Walker or Mr
Hill in time for this video honestly
just like many elements to Suicide
squads very messy development there
could be a multitude of reasons for
their departure perhaps they did feel
the game was in good hands and simply
didn't think a big delay was forthcoming
perhaps they were tired of working under
the WB umbrella or were not supportive
of the games as a service business model
that was being pushed or perhaps they as
the figureheads and leaders of
rocksteady's work culture were given a
diplomatic way to quietly exit the
studio regardless of the reason both
Hill and Walker announced earlier this
year they were opening another London
based studio called 100 star games and
would be focusing on yet again the AAA
gaming space meanwhile Warner Brothers
exact had their own announcement in
regards to Suicide Squad and it wasn't
nearly as positive IGN was the first to
report that in an earnings called WB
discoveries CFO simply said this year
Suicide Squad one of our key video game
releases in 20124 has fallen short of
our expectations since its release
earlier in the quarter setting our games
business up for a tough year-over-year
comp in q1 and things do seem like
they're going to remain tough at least
you for a while despite recently
released Joker content the clown Prince
of Crime doesn't seem to be moving the
needle much at all and at this point
many don't believe it ever will while
turnarounds aren't unheard of cut to the
only two examples we really have it's
difficult seeing kill the Justice League
somehow reverse its fortunes anytime
soon or ever really you can pinpoint a
lot of these poor decisions on upper
management in some way or another and
while hindsight is indeed 20 it's
nevertheless easy to see where the
better paths were not taken letting WB
Montreal continue their version of
Suicide Squad and letting Rock Steady
cook allowing the single player Damen
Wayne game to continue uh Gotham Knights
being the IP to shift over to rock
steady instead of Suicide Squad or you
know maybe not wasting everyone's time
with another grindy live service title
when there's more than enough to go
around but sadly the most mystifying
thing of all is WB recent Proclamation
that not only were they going to
continue live servy games they're going
to double down on them as reported by
Gamespot during a Morgan Stanley
billionaires circle jerk event the head
of WB Games JB paret said so rather than
just launching a kind of one-on-one
console game how do we develop a game
around for example Harry Potter that is
a live service where people can continue
to live and work work and build and play
in that world on an ongoing basis we
have a road map and a Strategic
investment plan to try and build out
that business and we think there is
Meaningful growth over the course of the
next couple of years it's not just
expanding the longevity in the life
cycle so that you're not going from a
release of a Batman title one year and
then sort of it goes dormant for 3 or 4
years if we can execute on this strategy
it also allows that franchise to live on
dayto day week to week on a much more
consistent basis so you're nurturing
that fan base no you're not it was
literally proved you proved that you
can't just bolt on this model to
anything and everything and expect
success like this interview happened a
full month after suicide squad bombed
and years after the Avengers did like
like what the [ __ ] is wrong with you I
just statements like this thinking like
this proves that some men just want to
watch the world burn let's just hope
Rock Steady somehow survives this
debacle but in the meantime if you out
there know of any other cursed comic
book Capers let me know in the comments
below or enter whatever that the suicide
squad hangs out in place that is my
social media see you next time and
thanks for watching
n
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