"Suicide Squad Studio Announces Further Layoffs"

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 acclaimed developer behind the iconic Batman: Arkham series and the more recent Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has faced another wave of layoffs in 2024. The studio's latest release, the Batman: Arkham spin-off titled Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, encountered a lukewarm reception upon launch. The game's post-launch downloadable content (DLC) further polarized its audience, culminating in Rocksteady's decision to cease adding new content after a final update in January, intended to conclude the game's storyline.

The financial impact of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was significant for both Rocksteady and its parent company, WB Games. Warner Bros. disclosed in February that the game did not meet sales projections. This disappointment led to substantial layoffs within Rocksteady's QA department in September, reducing its workforce from 33 to 15 employees.

Unfortunately, the layoffs did not stop there. As 2024 drew to a close, Eurogamer reported another round of job cuts at Rocksteady, affecting not only additional QA staff but also members of the programming and artist teams. Around six affected employees, who preferred to remain anonymous to safeguard their future job prospects, spoke to Eurogamer about their recent dismissals. Warner Bros. has not issued any statements regarding these layoffs, maintaining the same silence observed after the September cuts.

Rocksteady Lays Off More Suicide Squad Employees

Rocksteady's struggles with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League appear to have had a ripple effect, impacting other studios as well. WB Games Montreal, known for developing Batman: Arkham Origins in 2013 and Gotham Knights in 2022, also announced layoffs in December. Most of these cuts reportedly affected the quality assurance team that had been assisting Rocksteady with the development of Suicide Squad's post-launch DLC.

The final piece of this DLC, released on December 10, introduced Deathstroke, a former boss from Batman: Arkham Origins, as the fourth and last playable character in the roster of anti-heroes for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rocksteady is set to release one more update for the game later this month, leaving uncertainty about the studio's future endeavors. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's underperformance has cast a shadow over Rocksteady's otherwise stellar track record with DC-based video games, highlighted by the extensive layoffs that followed the game's release.