Summary
- Rocksteady has faced additional layoffs following the underwhelming performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
- The game's disappointing sales led to significant cuts in the studio's QA department in September.
- The latest layoffs have affected Rocksteady's programming and artist teams, coinciding with the final update for Suicide Squad.
Rocksteady, renowned for the Batman: Arkham series and the more recent Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has encountered another wave of layoffs in 2024. The year proved challenging for the studio, particularly with the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a Batman: Arkham spin-off that received a mixed reception. The game's post-launch DLC further divided the player base, leading Rocksteady to announce that no new content would be added after a final update in January to conclude the storyline.
The financial impact of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was substantial for both Rocksteady and its parent company, WB Games. Warner Bros. disclosed in February that the game did not meet sales expectations. As a result, Rocksteady underwent significant layoffs in its QA department in September, reducing the team from 33 to 15 members.
Unfortunately, the layoffs continued into the end of 2024. Eurogamer reported that Rocksteady experienced another round of staff reductions affecting not only QA but also the programming and artist teams. Several affected employees, who chose to remain anonymous to safeguard their future careers, spoke to Eurogamer about their recent dismissals. Warner Bros. has not yet commented on these layoffs, maintaining the same silence it observed after the September cuts.
Rocksteady Lays Off More Suicide Squad Employees
The repercussions of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's poor performance extended beyond Rocksteady. WB Games Montreal, the studio behind 2013’s Batman: Arkham Origins and 2022’s Gotham Knights, also faced layoffs in December. These primarily affected the quality assurance team, which had supported Rocksteady in developing 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 final playable character in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rocksteady is set to release one last update for the game later this month, but the studio's future plans remain uncertain. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League appears to be a blemish on Rocksteady's otherwise stellar record of acclaimed DC-based video games, underscored by the significant layoffs resulting from the game's struggles.
