Rocksteady Studios, the UK-based developer known for the Batman Arkham series, is reportedly facing layoffs that have predominantly impacted its quality assurance (QA) team. This development follows the lackluster performance of the studio’s latest release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which struggled to gain traction since its launch in February.
Staff Reductions at Rocksteady
A report by Eurogamer indicates that Rocksteady’s QA department has seen a significant reduction, with its staff shrinking from 33 members to just 15 over the course of a month. Employees have attributed the staffing cuts to the disappointing sales figures of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which prompted a “restructuring” initiative within the studio.
Reports suggest that the layoffs extended beyond the QA department. One employee reportedly learned of their termination while on paternity leave. Neither Rocksteady nor its parent company, Warner Bros., have publicly confirmed these job cuts.
Senior management at Rocksteady has acknowledged that these layoffs could affect product quality moving forward, according to comments from current staff members.
Suicide Squad’s Commercial Struggles Lead to Financial Impact
Warner Bros. Games launched Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League this year, banking on a live service model. However, the game met with critical and commercial disappointment, peaking at only 13,459 concurrent players on Steam. In a first-quarter earnings call in May, Warner Bros. disclosed that it would incur a loss of approximately $200 million due to the game’s performance. The company noted that revenue from games had decreased significantly, attributing the decline to the comparatively weaker sales of Suicide Squad against the previous year’s success of Hogwarts Legacy.
In the subsequent Q2 earnings call last month, Warner Bros. reported a 41 percent year-over-year decline in game revenue, emphasizing that this drop was chiefly due to the underperformance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in contrast to the strong sales of Hogwarts Legacy from the prior year.
Despite the setbacks associated with Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. remains committed to the games as a service model and aims to adapt its significant franchises into live service formats. J.B. Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, stated at a conference in March that there are opportunities to develop an integrated approach for these franchises, particularly by expanding into mobile and free-to-play platforms to achieve more consistent revenue streams.
A review from Gadgets 360 rated the game 6/10, criticizing it for being hampered by its live service model, pointing out issues such as confusing design choices, a repetitive mission structure, and an unclear identity that undermined its potential.
