Why Rocksteady Going The Obvious Route With Its Unnaounced Game May Be For The Best

Rocksteady Studios has had a bit of a turbulent year. What was supposed to be the studios’ big triumphant return after almost a decade of absence turned out to be one of the most infamous failures in recent gaming history, disappointing fans, critics, and parent companies alike. It feels safe to say that Rocksteady is in some troubled waters, but a lifeboat might be on the horizon.

Back in June, a Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier tried to explain the causes behind Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s failure. In this report, Schreier claimed that Rocksteady might already be trying to revert the damage to its legacy by tapping back into its roots, allegedly already having pitched a single-player game to its Warner Bros. higher-ups in the aftermath of Suicide Squad. More recently, a senior programmer for Rocksteady added an “unannounced project” to their LinkedIn profile, which lends credence to this idea Rocksteady is jumping right back on the horse. And while this unannounced Rocksteady project could be anything, the best course of action would probably be the most obvious one.

Rocksteady’s Unannounced Game Should Be Another Batman Arkham Entry

Rocksteady’s Live-Service Experiment Didn’t Work

It might feel like beating a dead horse at this point, but it’s important to contextualize just how much of a failure Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been, and why that will undoubtedly affect Rocksteady’s choice of next project. Upon finding out that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was a live-service looter-shooter in February 2023, fans wasted no time in vocalizing their disappointment. Rocksteady has always been renowned for its single-player, story-focused experiences, so a live-service multiplayer looter-shooter simply wasn’t something fans wanted from the studio.

Rocksteady delayed Suicide Squad by a year, but when the game was finally released, it was pretty much the experience that many fans expected it to be. Though Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had some fun gameplay, its lack of modes, its unrewarding endgame grind, its disappointing boss fights, and its very divisive story garnered it a rough critical reception on launch.

This rough critical reception translated to some equally rough statistics. According to reliable tracking site SteamDB, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League began with a player count of 13,459, but within a month that number had dropped to just 740 active players. Though Suicide Squad‘s first season of post-launch content caused a minor resurgence in its player-base, the numbers soon dropped once again. At the time of writing, Suicide Squad has a 24-hour peak player count of just 133.

It’s also been reported that Warner Bros. has confirmed it’s taking a $200 million loss on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It’s clear that Suicide Squad was a major blow to both Rocksteady and Warner Bros., and it seems likely both companies will now be desperately searching for a way to recoup those losses.

The Best Move is For Rocksteady to Fall Back on The Batman Arkham Franchise

Along with the damage to its reputation, Rocksteady’s failure with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems to be having a detrimental impact on the studio’s survival. It’s already been reported by Eurogamer that Rocksteady’s QA department has suffered some severe layoffs. With so many people’s livelihoods on the line, there’d be no shame in Rocksteady choosing the obvious route for its next game, and simply making another Batman: Arkham single-player experience. It’s what the studio is best at, it’s what fans want, and it’s the best option to keep the studio and its employees safe.