Rocksteady Studios, the developer of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and various Batman: Arkham games, is rumored to be working on a new Batman game.
A screenshot from Batman: Arkham City – Game of the Year Edition (2012), Rocksteady Studios
X user Shpeshal_Nick claims that Rocksteady is working on a new Batman game. He wrote, “Not sure which studio people’s dream is, but I heard Rocksteady are back making it. I also think Sony are trying to moneyhat it lol.
Shpeshal_Nick on X
In response to another user casting doubt on it being a new game, he replied, “Not sure why you doubt it but I heard new game.”
Shpeshal_Nick on X
This rumor comes in the wake of Rocksteady’s most recent release, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, becoming a financial disaster. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels revealed the company took at $200 million impairment charge on it. According to Investopedia, “An impairment charge is an accounting term used to describe a reduction or total loss of the recoverable value of an asset.”
Wiedenfels said during the company’s first quarter earnings results webcast, “Starting with Studios, the $400 million+ year-over-year decline during Q1 was primarily due to the very tough comp we faced in games against the success of Hogwart’s Legacy last year in the first quarter, in conjunction with the disappointing Suicide Squad release this past quarter, which we impaired, leading to a $200 million impact to EBITDA during the first quarter.”
Character art for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
Not only did Warner Bros. Discovery take a $200 million impairment charge on the game, but Tom Philips at Eurogamer reported the company laid off over half of its Quality Assurance department reducing it from 33 to 15 at the beginning of this month. The report also claims that the layoffs affect those outside of Quality Assurance as well and have affected individuals across the board from junior staff to individual who have been with the company for over five years.
A number of employees allegedly told the outlet that “product quality will now suffer as a result” of the layoffs.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Sweet Baby Inc. credits
These layoffs lent credence to a rumor from Vara Dark that Warner Bros. Discovery might shut down Rocksteady. She said in June, “Warner Bros is internally talking about closing Rocksteady or halving their 250 employees after Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s bomb.”
“I have heavily covered Warner Bros Games and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League since release because of what it represented for Warner Bros Games and a beloved franchise,” she continued. “When it was greenlit, we were seeing a giant scramble for studios to create live-service games and this one released too late plus the content did not resonate with players.”
Harley Quinn about to execute Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
Furthermore, she noted, “Rocksteady Studios’ co-founders and studio heads also departed the company back in 2022. Rocksteady is a shell of the company it used to be and we saw this happen recently with Embracer Group and Volition, a company that had 30 years of experience under their belt and it sounds as though Warner Bros is planning to pull the plug on Rocksteady, too. ”
“They have no other games publicly announced and there does not seem to be any confidence in them anymore. Even back in 2016 we got the Batman: Arkham VR game that was developed by Rocksteady and the new Batman: Arkham Shadow VR game is being done by Camouflaj. Only time will tell. Doesn’t seem like the future is very bright for Rocksteady,” she concluded.
While I do not usually speak on insider information I receive, I think this is one we all have pieced together ourselves. Warner Bros is internally talking about closing Rocksteady or halving their 250 employees after Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s bomb.
Just last…
— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 6, 2024
However, a couple of days after Dark’s initial rumor surfaced, Jason Schreier at Bloomgberg reported that Rocksteady was planning “to pitch a new single-player game, which would return Rocksteady to its roots.”
A new Batman game would seemingly be going back to Rocksteady’s roots.
A screenshot from Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition (2010), Rocksteady Studios
What do you make of this rumor?
