Even though the game has only been available for a few months, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has gone down as a major flop. How bad is it, exactly? According to a new report from Bloomberg, Warner Bros. and DC’s expensive, ambitious video game is going to lose around $200 million. That’s an incredible blow considering that Rocksteady Studios previously brought us the much-beloved Batman: Arkham trilogy.
The report contains a detailed account of chaos that went on at Rocksteady that led to the game’s downfall. From constant changes to multiple delays, seemingly nothing went right on this one. A big issue was the fact that the studio was asked to make a live-service game, given how profitable they can be. However, that model was not something Rocksteady had executed before. Rather than be content with a contained, potentially satisfying, story-driven game, Warner Bros. wanted something that could bring in money for years to come. Instead, they now have a historic bomb on their hands.
After rumors hard swirled online for some time, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad video game was first revealed to the world during DC FanDome in 2020. At the time, optimism was high as the initial footage was impressive. Unfortunately, the behind-the-scenes issues mounted, resulting in a disappointing end result. The game currently holds a pretty rough 60 overall rating on Metacritic to go with a “generally unfavorable” 3.5 average user score.
Here is the synopsis for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
“Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a genre-defying third-person action shooter where the ultimate band of misfits must do the impossible to save the world: Kill the Justice League. Join the newly ‘recruited’ members of Amanda Waller’s infamous Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad), Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark, as they set out on an impossible mission to Kill the Justice League. Drop into an expansive and dynamic open-world Metropolis ravaged by Brainiac’s invasion and terrorized by the heroes who once protected it.”
The future of DC video games remains a bit uncertain for the time being. What we know is that these live service games have not done well in the superhero world. Marvel’s Avengers was also a major letdown for Square Enix, costing the studio millions. On the flipside, contained stories such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have been quite successful. Given the success of the Batman games of the past, it might make sense for Warner Bros. an DC to return to that model in the future.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is available now for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC.
What do you think? Did you play the game? Did you enjoy it? Or do you understand why it flopped? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter?
