Rocksteady won’t release a patch for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League next week in order to focus on getting the game ready for the launch of Season 1 later in March.
In a post on the Suicide Squad website, Rocksteady acknowleged player demand for the game’s next patch, which is set to fix myriad bugs and make key gameplay improvements, including Mutator changes. But, the developer said, it is now focusing on “getting the whole game ready to receive our free Season 1 update this month”. Season 1 is set to add Joker as a new playable character, as well as new gear and environments as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s live service continues.
Last week, Rocksteady parent company Warner Bros. Discovery said Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League "has fallen short of our expectations" following its launch. Speaking during a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Financial Officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, admitted Rocksteady’s game hadn’t done the business the company had hoped for since going on sale on February 2 priced $70.
Warner Bros. Discovery failed to mention a sales figure for Rocksteady’s game, but did say Suicide Squad’s failure had set up the company’s game business for a “tough” year-on-year comparison. Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery released Hogwarts Legacy, which went on to become the best-selling game of 2023.
"This year, Suicide Squad, one of our key video game releases in 2024, has fallen short of our expectations since its release earlier in the quarter, setting our games business up for a tough year-over-year comp in Q1," Wiedenfels said.
Warner Bros. Discovery's comment didn’t come as much surprise, given Suicide Squad's high-profile struggles. On Steam, the live service action game peaked with 13,459 concurrent players, a figure that has plummeted since launch. At the time of this article's publication, just 369 people were playing the game on Valve's platform, with a 24-hour peak of 575. Concurrent player numbers on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X and S are unavailable.
IGN's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League review returned a 5/10. We called it "a repetitive and bland looter-shooter that, despite an engaging story, never stays fun for long enough."
Players are already wondering what happens to Rocksteady’s live-service plan now the game has flopped. Clearly, Season 1 will launch, but what happens after that? IGN has reported on how a Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League player had unearthed a hidden message that looked like a strong hint at the return of Batman. Datamining has shown strong hints that Flash and Green Lantern are set to return in some form. Other playable characters suspected to be on their way include Mrs Freeze (Nora Fries), Lawless, and Deathstroke.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
