Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently released a new report on Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which launched in February to a disappointing reception. While highlighting how the project came to be, anonymous sources also outlined some development issues.
Leadership under co-founder and director Sefton Hill reportedly caused issues as staff waited “weeks or months” for work reviews, slowing development. “He scrapped big chunks of the script and struggled to convey his evolving ideas,” said sources, resulting in delays that hurt staff morale.
Some cut content included a vehicle system that let players add weapons to cars and ride through the streets, despite each character already having traversal methods. Though vehicles did make it in the game (albeit in a much different fashion), Rocksteady still spent “months of experimentation and prototyping” on the customization idea before it was axed.
Another issue was the scale and the complexity compared to Rocksteady’s previous games, leading to short-term fixes from engineers that “later proved to be hindrances as the release date kept getting pushed back.” Bloated code also caused issues with activities, like making them feel fresh on repeated play.
While management told employees that it would “eventually coalesce at the last minute, just as the Arkham games had,” a culture of “toxic positivity” that discouraged criticism started festering. There also wasn’t any worry from leadership as other titles like Anthem, Marvel’s Avengers, and Redfall failed. Warner Bros. also provided positive feedback and expected the project “to become a billion-dollar franchise.”
When Hill and Walker left the company (later forming Hundred Star Games), staff were allegedly shocked. Nathan Burlow and Darius Sadeghian would take over as studio directors.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League continues to perform poorly, with its first Season barely raising player counts. However, post-launch plans are seemingly changing, and it won’t get as much content as previously planned. Stay tuned for updates in the coming months.