Following Failure Of ‘Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’, Rocksteady Studios Reportedly Heading Back To Gotham With New Single-Player Batman Game
After placing all their bets (whether voluntarily or at the behest of WB Games) on the potential success of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and losing almost everything, Rocksteady Studios is reportedly attempting to dig themselves out of their Braniac-sized hole with a new single-player Batman game.
This update regarding the embattled studio’s future was first brought to light by Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier, who himself learned of the development while speaking to his apparent WB Games insiders regarding the division’s behind-the-scenes struggles, as largely self-inflicted by its outgoing president David Haddad.
Relaying what he learned about Rocksteady Studios in particular, Schrier explained that the portent of doom that kicked off its downfall was none other than Haddad himself, as he apparently played a large role in pushing the dev team to abandon their single-player Arkham origins (no pun intended) in favor of a live-service, multiplayer future.
As Schreier writes, Haddad fully believed that Suicide Squad “could be a billion-dollar game” and thus went all in on its marketing, even going so far as to pull a bevy of strings in order to get it live coverage on their fellow Warner Bros. Discovery-owned entity CNN.
However, working against Haddad’s optimism was the the game’s ever-changing design scope and a previously-reported “culture of rigid perfectionism” across Rocksteady Studios, both of which eventually came together to produce the ‘dead-in-less-than-a-year’ live-shooter mess we hardly knew.
But in an apparent stroke of luck for the dev team, rather than their failure resulting in them being reorganized, sold-off, or completely shuttered, it seems Rocksteady Studios is actually being given a chance to go back to basics.
In closing out his report, Schreier notes that “Now, Rocksteady is looking to return to Batman for a single-player game, but according to people familiar with the timeline, the new project is years away from landing.”
For those unfamiliar with the situation, Suicide Squad was the bomb of 2024.
Following a development cycle that was rocked by delays, sexual harassment allegations, and a full plot leak, the game released to outcry in February 2024, with frustrations towards its in-game economy and always-online requirement being exacerbated by the subsequent discovery that its story would insultingly end with the Arkham universe Batman – in what would be the final recorded role of legendary Dark Knight voice actor Kevin Conroy – dead by Task Force X’s hands.
Condemned by reviewers as grindy and boring, Suicide Squad‘s woes only served to deepen not only when those who paid extra for Early Access were given zero compensation when their preview time was eaten into by emergency maintenance, but also when it was discovered that narrative consultancy firm Sweet Baby Inc played a large role in crafting its narrative.
Posting less than half the Steam player numbers of Marvel’s Avengers (and in doing so stealing the crown of “Worst Live-Service Superhero Game”), the live-service looter shooter would ultimately turn out to be anything but a ‘billion-dollar’ game, with its sheer rejection by players resulting in a $200 million loss and a revenue drop of 41% for Warner Bros. Games, as well as widespread layoffs and the premature end of its post-launch DLC plans.
In terms of The Caped Crusader’s next outing, as Schreier’s report makes no mention as to what players can expect from it, nor whether or not it will be set in the Arkham universe, one can only speculate what is being planned.
Assuming the game is set in the Arkham universe, Rocksteady may aim to distance themselves from Kill the Justice League‘s insulting ‘true ending’ and set it before the events of the Arkham Knight, much like how Camouflaj’s recent Batman: Arkham Shadow VR title is set six months after the events of the first title in the franchise’s chronological timeline, Batman Arkham: Origins.
However, if they don’t, there’s a chance they may seek to redeem both their and the Arkham series’ good names by having Batman clean-up Gotham in the wake of Braniac’s defeat by the Suicide Squad.
Conversely, on the off-chance that this new game will take place in an entirely new narrative universe, it may be the case that Rocksteady Studios is looking to fully cut ties with Suicide Squad and start their universe over from scratch (Hey, it worked for Marvel Comics and their new Ultimate revival!)
Further, there’s even the possibility that Warner Bros will choose to literally cut their losses and either cancel this new Batman title in the cradle or hand the Caped Crusader off to another one of their studios, as it may be hard (though not impossible) to ever convince players to trust Rocksteady to handle him ever again.
All in all, bad games don’t kill franchises, but they certainly make it hard to get plans back on track – and until players are certain that those involved with this new Batman game are not those who dropped the ball with Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady Studios will have their work cut out for them when it comes to re-establishing themselves as one of the pre-eminent developers of superhero video games.
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