Summary
- Rocksteady has been hit with fresh layoffs after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's underperformance.
- The game's poor sales reportedly led to the studio's QA staff being cut by half back in September.
- The new layoffs extended to Rocksteady's programming and artist teams ahead of Suicide Squad's final update.
Rocksteady, the renowned developer behind the acclaimed Batman: Arkham series and the more recent Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has faced another wave of layoffs as 2024 draws to a close. The year has been challenging for Rocksteady, primarily due to the lukewarm reception and subsequent poor sales performance of their latest title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Initially released to mixed reviews, the game's reputation further deteriorated with the rollout of its post-launch DLC, leading Rocksteady to announce the cessation of new content following a final update in January to conclude the game's narrative.
The financial impact of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was significant for both Rocksteady and its parent company, WB Games. In February, Warner Bros. disclosed that the game fell short of expected sales figures. This disappointing performance contributed to a substantial reduction in Rocksteady's QA department in September, with the team size shrinking from 33 to just 15 employees.
Unfortunately, the layoffs did not end there. As reported by Eurogamer, Rocksteady experienced another round of job cuts as the year ended. This latest round affected not only additional QA staff but also members of the programming and artist teams. Several affected employees, who chose to remain anonymous to safeguard their future career prospects, shared their experiences with Eurogamer. Warner Bros. has not yet issued a statement regarding these layoffs, maintaining the same silence it observed after the cuts in September.
Rocksteady Lays Off More Suicide Squad Employees
The ripple effects of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's underperformance have not been confined to Rocksteady alone. WB Games Montreal, the studio responsible for 2013's Batman: Arkham Origins and 2022's Gotham Knights, also announced layoffs in December. These cuts predominantly affected the quality assurance team, which had been assisting Rocksteady with the development of Suicide Squad's post-launch content.
The final piece of this DLC, released on December 10, introduced Deathstroke from Batman: Arkham Origins as the last playable character added to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's roster of anti-heroes. Rocksteady is set to release one final update for the game later this month, leaving the studio's future plans uncertain. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League now stands as a blemish on Rocksteady's otherwise stellar record of creating beloved DC-based video games, underscored by the significant layoffs resulting from the game's troubled trajectory.
