Rocksteady Studios, the British developer behind the Batman Arkham games, has reportedly been hit with layoffs. The redundancies are said to have mostly affected the studio’s quality assurance (QA) department. The reported layoffs at Rocksteady come after the Warner Bros. Games-owned studio’s latest title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, sold poorly after it launched in February.
Layoffs at Rocksteady
According to a Eurogamer report, layoffs have left Rocksteady’s QA department reduced to almost half its size over the past month. The studio’s employees told the publication that the QA department, which included 33 team members, was now down to 15. The poor commercial performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was cited as the reason behind the “restructuring” effort.
Layoffs reportedly impacted staff members outside of the QA department, as well. According to the report, one employee was informed of their termination during their paternity leave. Rocksteady or its parent Warner Bros., have not yet confirmed the job cuts.
Rocksteady senior management reportedly acknowledged that the redundancies would impact product quality at the studio going forward, according to staffers.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Led to Warner Bros. Losses
Warner Bros. Games launched Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League earlier this year, betting heavily on the live service model. The game was a critical and commercial failure, peaking out at 13,459 concurrent players on Steam. In its first-quarter 2024 earnings call in May, Warner Bros. revealed that it would take a $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,679 crore) hit on Suicide Squad. “Games revenue declined significantly due to the success of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year quarter, while this year’s Q1 release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League generated significantly lower revenues,” the company said in its Q1 earnings report.
Last month, during its Q2 2024 earnings call, Warner Bros. reported that its games revenue declined 41 percent YoY, “primarily driven by the weak performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League this year, compared to the strong performance of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year.”
Despite Suicide Squad’s failure, Warner Bros. has committed to the games as a service model and intends to transform its biggest franchises into live service games. “We think there’s an opportunity to take those four franchises and develop a much more holistic approach, particularly around expanding into the mobile and multi-platform free to play space, which can give us a much better and more consistent set of revenue,” J.B. Perrette, CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, said at a conference in March.
Gadgets 360’s 6/10 review of the game said that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was severely held back by its live service model, with “baffling design choices, mundane mission structure, and unclear identity” working against the game’s strengths.
