Rocksteady hit by layoffs after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperforms

Rocksteady staff have told Eurogamer of redundancies at the studio, following the underperformance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

The company’s QA department has seen its size almost cut in half over the past month, Eurogamer understands, from 33 team members to 15, with poor sales of Suicide Squad directly cited as a reason for its “restructuring”.

The job losses extend outside of QA, too. One staff member posting publicly on social media over the weekend revealed they had been told they were being made redundant in the middle of their paternity leave.

Eurogamer has contacted Suicide Squad publisher Warner Bros. for comment, but has so far not received a response.

Rocksteady staff – who requested to remain anonymous – told Eurgamer that the loss of so many roles in the developer’s QA department, including team members with specialized knowledge, would leave their remaining colleagues shouldered with more work.

There has also been an acknowledgment by Rocksteady’s senior management that product quality will now suffer as a result, staff say.

Staff members affected by the job cuts include numerous junior staff, but also several team members employed at Rocksteady for more than five years.

Last month, Warner Bros. reported a 41 percent fall in gaming revenue year-on-year due to the “weak performance” of Suicide Squad, after previously saying it had lost $200m on the game. Work continues on Suicide Squad’s year of post-launch content, although nothing has been said for what, if anything, will come next.

“Rocksteady’s talent is so evident in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it almost overcomes the terrible decision to try and make it,” reads Eurogamer’s Suicide Squad review.