I shouldn’t take joy in seeing something fail. After all, in the gaming industry, failures can lead to closures, and that might be something that happens to a certain studio due to the news I’m about to report. However, when it comes to Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, I can honestly say a big fat “told you so” along with MANY other gamers who feared that this would flop upon launch…and now we have proof it did just that. Granted, we already knew the game was bad, as critics and fans said that in droves when the title launched. Furthermore, it was already clear that the game had sales issues to go along with all of its bugs.
But today, Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav (one of the most evil businessmen on the planet, look it up if you don’t believe me) noted in their Q1 results meeting that the game was “disappointing” compared to the epic success of Hogwarts Legacy last year. That’s an unfair comparison in many respects, but he later went on to note that the company had a $400 million dollar revenue drop year-to-year and that Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League was worth at least half that.
"Warner Bros. Says the Failure of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League Contributed to a $200 Million Hit to Revenue" https://t.co/qqLHznZr4H pic.twitter.com/z35x6kzinc
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 9, 2024
So why do I feel happy about this? Rocksteady had a great thing going with the Arkham titles—yes, even with Arkham Knight. When I, among others, heard about the Suicide Squad game, we were pumped! We were going to enjoy an Arkham-style adventure with beloved villains and antiheroes, and it could bring back the luster that Rocksteady once had.
Instead, likely because of WB’s meddling, they shifted from the single-player, action-packed, narrative juggernaut that they had to a co-op/multiplayer live-service shooter that suffered through numerous delays and even resulted in the founders of Rocksteady leaving the company to make titles they actually WANTED to make.
This is another piece of proof that live-service titles only work if the games are QUALITY and not forced onto players. But given the state of WBD right now, especially with Zaslav in charge, I doubt they’re going to understand this lesson at all.
