Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has disappointed Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of developer Rocksteady, to the tune of a $200 million hit to revenue.
Reporting its Q1 financial results, Warner Bros. Discovery said its Games revenue declined significantly as a result of a tough comparison with last years best-selling video game Hogwarts Legacy. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice generated significantly lower revenues compared with those generated by Hogwarts Legacy during the same three-month period, the company said.
In a follow-up investor-focused call, Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav called the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League disappointing , before Warner Bros. Discovery chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels detailed an impairment charge the company absorbed as a result of the games failure.
"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," Wiedenfels said. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was panned by critics upon launch, with extremely low player numbers on Steam. Some of the frustration stems from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League not being another Batman game from Rocksteady, despite the fact it is set within the Arkhamverse. The developers Batman Arkham series is much-loved by fans, with 2011s Batman: Arkham City in particular held up as one of the greatest, if not the greatest superhero video game of all time. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, on the other hand, is a live service third-person combat game in which Batman is a villain.
Rocksteady now faces tough questions around Warner Bros. long-term commitment to Suicide Squads live service. Warner Bros. is yet to announce Rocksteady's next project. But earlier this month, it revealed Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR game developed by Camouflaj, maker of the Iron Man VR game, and set for release exclusively on the Meta Quest 3 later in 2024.
turns out when you make a game nobody wants no one will buy it
They literally doubled down a year before release when they announced the last delay and said they won't remove live service despite all the complaints. Like, they KNEW people hated the concept and even acknowledged the complaints and said they aren't changing shit basically.
So wheres the rolling head of the person who decided it had to be a gaas?
Like, they KNEW people hated the concept and even acknowledged the complaints and said they aren't changing shit basically.Sounds like a certain Gamefaqs admin team and their wiki-killing overlords.
I really have no idea why studios thought they could take the experience of cheap ass gacha games and extrapolate that onto the AAA industry. There can only be so many popular live service games on the market at any one time. All the phone gacha games can only thrive because they're cheap to make and maintain relative to the money they make.This. Nobody wanted this game.
They would've basically had to completely rebuild the game, better to release it and take the hit than burn more dollars on making it goodThey could have at least made alterations to change some aspects of it to make it somewhat more favorable. The game was already delayed 3 or so times. Maybe 2 or 3 years. I can't remember. They knew from the beginning people hated it. Instead, they chose to leave it exactly how people hated. Or flat out cancel it years before release. Isn't that what WB has been doing anyway for tax write-offs?
Rocksteady now faces tough questions around Warner Bros. long-term commitment to Suicide Squads live service.I mean, wasn't this all WB's plan? Why should Rocksteady get the blame here?
Gaas was the least of that game's issues. It just wasn't fun to play. Gaas aren't bad if they're both fun to play and don't go crazy with the monetizationuh no it being a live service game was its biggest issue it is the number 1 thing ppl have criticized it for
Gaas aren't bad if they're both fun to play and don't go crazy with the monetizationBeing unfun to play in order to push monetization is literally the entire point of a GaaS.
uh no it being a live service game was its biggest issue it is the number 1 thing ppl have criticized it for
Being unfun to play in order to push monetization is literally the entire point of a GaaS.
In before conservatives blame Sweet Baby Inc for this.
In before conservatives blame Sweet Baby Inc for this.they already are
Did they really expect that game to make 200 million lmao, everyone hated it months before it even releasedIf they couldn't tell people would hate it from the title alone, I don't know what to say to WB's board. They're probably the embodiment of the boardroom suggestion meme.
Figures people here would support Sweet Baby Inc lolsweet baby inc has NOTHING to do with this
Literally everyone except for the WB execs knew this was going to happen as soon as the game was announced.
Figures people here would support Sweet Baby Inc lolWho is supporting them?
sweet baby inc has NOTHING to do with this
Sweet baby helped in making this game shitty, so I disagree.what did they do that made the game bad
Sweet baby helped in making this game shitty, so I disagree.In what way? You're saying this game nobody wanted looked appealing to you at any point in it's development? Like, unironically?
what did they do that made the game bad
which of the problems with this game are they connected with
They are a team that helps with narratives, making plots cohesive, and generally making the characters likable. They failed at every single one of those. So either they were brought in and paid to do absolutely nothing, making them a shitty useless company. Or they were brought in and what we saw in the finished game were the fruits of their labor, also making them a shitty useless company. There is no way to slice it where they arent a shitty useless company.they wrote SOME of the dialogue