February 4th 2024.
Suicide Squad has been in the works for quite some time now, and it's safe to say that the game has had a troubled development. Many fans, including myself, have been left unimpressed by what we've seen so far. And while I haven't played the game myself, I believe that the issues with it stem from the mishandling of both the game and its developer, Rocksteady Studios, by Warner Bros.
Back in 2015, Rocksteady Studios was one of the most respected developers in the world. Their Batman: Arkham series had been a huge success, and fans were eagerly anticipating what they would do next. However, Warner Bros. made the mistake of waiting too long before announcing their next project. It wasn't until 2020 that Suicide Squad was revealed, and even then, the trailer didn't give us much information about the game. During the five years of silence from Rocksteady, they seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and fans stopped thinking about them.
The irony here is that by waiting so long to reveal anything, Warner Bros. missed the superhero movie craze that had taken over during that time. Marvel's MCU was in its prime, and the DCEU was just getting started. But Warner Bros. missed out on all of that, and besides the Injustice games, we haven't seen another DC game until now. This is poor management and is almost comical in its incompetence.
Once Suicide Squad was finally announced, the only updates we received were about delays. There were also rumors floating around about the game having all of its loot boxes removed, even though they were a core part of the design. This was eerily similar to what happened with Marvel's Avengers game, which was released the same year Suicide Squad was announced. And now, reading the reviews for both games, it seems that they share many of the same issues.
I can't speak to the authenticity of the game since I haven't played it, but as someone who has read the comics and seen the films, I can say that the idea of all the characters using guns all the time doesn't sit right with me. I've never seen Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, or King Shark rely on guns in their incarnations, and it feels like they've been turned into generic video game characters.
The Arkham series was praised for its portrayal of Batman, but Suicide Squad feels like it could have featured any characters, and it wouldn't have made a difference. In 2022, it was announced that the studio heads of Rocksteady were leaving the company, more than a year before Suicide Squad was released. This speaks volumes about the development process of the game, especially when coupled with the rumors that it had become a live service game, following the trend of trying to create the next Fortnite or Genshin Impact.
But as we've seen with Sony's failed attempt at this, it rarely works out. And while Suicide Squad did try to course correct with another year-long delay, it doesn't seem to have made a difference. The game still feels like an awkward combination of a traditional game and live service elements, and from what I've seen and read, there's nothing about it that seems appealing.
Now, I'm not saying that Suicide Squad is a bad game because Rocksteady is an untalented studio. On the contrary, it's a crime that such a talented team was forced to make this game. It's a perfect example of everything that can go wrong with modern video games, with a prolonged development time that not only tied up a talented studio but also resulted in a game that is likely to flop.
Even worse, half of the problem was that Warner Bros. was chasing trends that were already outdated. And when you consider how long games take to make nowadays, it's no surprise that Suicide Squad looks outdated, uninteresting, and doomed to fail. It's a shame to see a once-great developer brought down by poor management and chasing trends. Let's hope they can bounce back from this and return to making the quality games they're known for.
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