Jason Schreier, Bloomberg journalist, delves into the development of this game as a service by talking to some of those responsible
The industry will remember Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as one of the biggest disappointments in history. The concept of gaming as a service, coming from a Rocksteady experienced in adventures single player, has not convinced even those who usually invest their time in this type of adventure. And, what was already smelling like a hit, he ended up confirming himself with a launch that did not live up to expectations. What went wrong in this development? Jason Schreier, journalist Bloomberghas delved into it to discover a good handful of problems.
Because the dilemma is not to make a game as a service; There are many proposals of this style that have managed to succeed among users. In this case, and according to some members of Rocksteady who spoke with Schreier, Suicide Squad became a bunch of problems which include delays, a culture of constant perfectionism, a poor approach to gender and a changing vision. Which, as was learned with Warner Bros.’s latest financial report, resulted in a 200 million dollar hole.
A game as a service developed by a studio known for its single player titles
Suicide Squad’s problems began with a decision by Warner Bros.: give the project to Rocksteady. At first, the conglomerate had a Montreal studio working on this ‘multiplayer title with DC characters’ concept, but its developers were having a hard time coming up with a cohesive and valid concept. Therefore, the license owners took the idea to their most reputable subsidiary; a team that, generally, He was known for his court adventures single player.
Since Rocksteady was not used to making games as a service, its vision with Suicide Squad continually changed.
Rocksteady bosses did not protest. In fact, they quickly abandoned a multiplayer codenamed ‘Stones’ and they got to work to bring superheroes to the game-as-a-service concept. But this change would soon take its toll on the project directors; over time, and as staff interviewed by Bloomberg comment, The vision of the top managers was continually changing. This especially affected combat: what started out as melee-focused gameplay ended up focusing primarily on shooting mechanics. In this sense, many employees wondered what was the point of making Captain Boomerang, one of the protagonists of the adventure, develop more in the gunplay than in using the weapon that gives it its name.
An increasingly complex development
But this was only the beginning. As some interviewees remember, Rocksteady is used to creating stories that can only be experienced once. Therefore, the bosses of Suicide Squad were finding many difficulties in making battles, levels and bosses that, following the bases of games as a service, will make users want to play again and again. Additionally, generating a massive world with four playable characters meant a significant increase in complexity development.
Internal delays and bottlenecks had a huge impact on the overall team morale.
To this we must add the trend towards perfection by Sefton Hill, co-founder of Rocksteady and first director of Suicide Squad. According to employees, some had to wait weeks or months for your work to be reviewed. He discarded large parts of the script and had trouble reflecting his ideas in the game; After all, he had barely touched on proposals of the style such as Destiny 2. And, as is sadly usual in these cases, internal delays and bottlenecks had a huge impact on the overall team morale.
One of Hill’s discarded ideas, for example, has to do with a vehicle system which sought to transport Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark and Captain Boomerang around the city. Employees, as they tell Bloomberg, asked themselves this question: why would players using Deadshot or King Shark move around on a motorcycle if they can simply fly through the air? Naturally, the proposal ended up being removed from the final version of Suicide Squad.
Overly optimistic promises and “toxic positivism”
Although concerns were growing among staff members, managers at Rocksteady and Warner Bros. were busy calming the waters with overly optimistic promises. On the one hand, the heads of the study assured that Suicide Squad would end up coming together at the last minute; just as had happened with the Batman installments. And, for their part, the executives of Warner Bros. they only had good words for gaming as a service; They applauded the good graphics and saw the proposal as a million-dollar idea. Internally, in addition, what the employees called “toxic positivism“: a culture that discouraged criticism.
And this led to the next big coup for Rocksteady: overnight, founders Jamie Walker and the aforementioned Sefton Hill they left the company. Over time, these professionals created Hundred Star Games and told some members of their former developer that, in the new studio, they could work. ignoring corporate pressures from companies like Warner Bros.
The rest is history; After a 10-minute gameplay that flooded the Internet with criticism, an additional delay and a disappointing launch, Suicide Squad ended up establishing itself as one of the great failures of 2024. And we know that, despite this setback, Warner Bros. does not want to abandon the plan to develop games as a service; Over time, we will see if their efforts give an acceptable result or, on the contrary, if they continue to add stains to their record in the world of video games.
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