Following the disappointing performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady Studios has announced further layoffs. These job cuts, impacting programming and art teams, follow September's significant reduction of the QA department by approximately 50%.
The game's underperformance, reported by Warner Bros. in February as falling short of sales projections, initially resulted in the dismissal of half the QA staff (reducing it from 33 to 15 employees). Recent reports from Eurogamer indicate additional layoffs affecting various teams, including further QA reductions and members of the programming and art departments. Several anonymous employees confirmed their dismissals to Eurogamer. Warner Bros. has yet to publicly address these recent cuts, mirroring their silence following the September layoffs.
This isn't isolated to Rocksteady. WB Games Montreal, responsible for Batman: Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights, also experienced layoffs in December, primarily affecting QA staff who supported Suicide Squad's post-launch content. The final DLC, featuring Deathstroke, launched December 10th. While a final update is planned for later this month, Rocksteady's future projects remain uncertain. The Suicide Squad game's underperformance casts a shadow on Rocksteady's otherwise impressive track record of critically acclaimed DC games.