Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Fallout: Rocksteady Faces Massive Layoffs Amid Poor Sales
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was supposed to be the next big thing for Rocksteady Studios, a live-service game meant to expand the studio’s legacy beyond its successful Batman: Arkham series. Instead, the game missed the mark, failed to meet expectations, and has cost Warner Bros Entertainment a staggering $200 million. It struggles to attract even 200 concurrent players on Steam, with the player count sometimes dipping below 60.
The fallout has been severe. According to a report by Eurogamer, Rocksteady has started laying off over half of its QA department, citing the poor sales of Suicide Squad. This cuts the team from 33 to 15 members, with more layoffs expected. Staff expressed concerns that the remaining team members will be overwhelmed with additional work, and there are fears that the quality of Rocksteady’s future projects may suffer as a result.
These layoffs come after a troubled development process for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, marred by indecisive leadership and delays. Despite Rocksteady’s pedigree, the game was unable to break into the lucrative live-service space, proving once again that even well-established studios can stumble when chasing trends like live-service games.
This echoes similar industry failures, such as the closure of Arkane Austin after the disastrous launch of Redfall. The push for live-service games has been tempting for publishers due to their potential for massive returns, but when they fail to land, the consequences can be disastrous—both for the companies involved and for the developers who pour their efforts into these games.
The layoffs at Rocksteady are a reminder of the volatility of the industry, where even talented studios can suffer when games fail to meet financial expectations, leaving behind a trail of wasted talent, effort, and missed opportunities.
