Making games is hard
A newreport in Bloombergdescribes the development ofSuicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueand the issues which may have led to Rocksteady’s expensive live service gameflopping at launch. Staff, talking under condition of anonymity, described corporate owners who pushed for a multiplayer game from the studio known for singleplayer experiences, as well as indecisive leadership and a culture of “toxic positivity”.
In this instance, “toxic positivity” refers to the seemingly common practice of studio leadership reassuring staff that Suicide Squad “would eventually coalesce at the last minute, just as the Arkham games had.” (I suppose they all forgotthe PC port of Arkham Knight was so bad they had to offer full refunds. Not a lot of coalescing there.)
Although Warner Bros. apparently lost $200 million (around £156 million) in developing Suicide Squad, the silver lining is that there have seemingly been no layoffs at the studio since. Rocksteady are now assisting with the development of a “director’s cut” version ofHogwarts Legacy, while “according to people familiar, the studio leaders are looking to pitch a new single-player game, which would return Rocksteady to its roots.”
Hopefully such a singleplayer game comes to pass. Our ownSuicide Squad: Kill The Justice League reviewcalled it “a perfectly average open world action game that plops out when a finance department locks a brilliant developer in a room and refuses to let them see sunlight for nine years.”
