{"rewrite":{"id":"r_30cd520b3d2ad34c527b634f","clusterId":"c_99612fd3bb14797a6a001935","slug":"former-rocksteady-dev-says-suicide-squad-left-them-wanting-to-quit-games","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Former Rocksteady Dev Says Suicide Squad Left Them Wanting to Quit Games","summary":"A former Rocksteady developer who worked on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League said the game's development and commercial failure left them so drained they never wanted to make games again. The live-service title, released in February 2024, struggled with poor sales and cultural clashes at the studio, leading to layoffs and canceled content.","whyItMatters":"The account shows how Rocksteady's shift from single-player Arkham games to a live-service model created internal friction and personal toll, with the game's failure reinforcing the risks of chasing service trends.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eJohnny Armstrong, a former Rocksteady associate design director who joined the studio in 2010 and worked on the Batman: Arkham series, said developing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was so grueling he never wanted to make games again. Armstrong spoke to Bloomberg about the project, which began as a multiplayer-focused pitch after Arkham Knight and eventually became the live-service Suicide Squad title. He noted the shift from single-player development to a service model required repeatable content and tougher quality testing, with each piece taking a long time and the situation not improving despite effort. Axel Rydby, who joined Rocksteady in 2018 and became director of Suicide Squad in 2022, said internal meetings shifted from game content to recouping rising costs, with executives focusing on player numbers and replayability. Rydby understood Warner Bros.\u0026#39; ROI concerns but felt the game\u0026#39;s soul was lost as numbers took precedence. The game was delayed multiple times over a development period of more than seven years, with incremental delays that kept the team under constant deadline pressure.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Former Rocksteady dev says Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League left them so drained they never wanted to make games again. The live-service shift from Arkham single-player was a cultural clash, and the game's failure took a personal toll.","twitterPost":"Former Rocksteady dev says Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League left them so drained they never wanted to make games again. The live-service shift from Arkham single-player was a cultural clash, and the game's failure took a personal toll.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"A former Rocksteady developer said working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was so draining they never wanted to make games again. The live-service title, released in February 2024, struggled with poor sales and cultural friction at the studio, leading to layoffs and canceled content. The account highlights the personal cost of chasing service trends.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Automaton\",\"url\":\"https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20260703-453201/\",\"title\":\"Developer of 'Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League' says it was so tough they 'never wanted to make games again' after the live-service flop that even Rocksteady struggled with\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4243,"outputTokens":646,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1783066614,"createdAt":"2026-07-03T08:05:46.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-07-03T08:09:50.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-03T08:09:50.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_99612fd3bb14797a6a001935","canonicalTitle":"わずか1年で新展開打ち切りのマルチ大作『スーサイド・スクワッド』開発者、“もうゲームを作りたくなくなる”ほどつらかったと告白。名門Rocksteadyでも躓いた、ライブサービス挑戦","representativeArticleId":"a_6f7a4d0db31905c68273f16d","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League\"],\"studios\":[\"Rocksteady Studios\"],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"games\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-07-03T07:24:42.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-07-03T07:24:42.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-03T08:09:51.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Automaton","url":"https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20260703-453201/","title":"わずか1年で新展開打ち切りのマルチ大作『スーサイド・スクワッド』開発者、“もうゲームを作りたくなくなる”ほどつらかったと告白。名門Rocksteadyでも躓いた、ライブサービス挑戦"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League"],"studios":["Rocksteady Studios"],"people":[],"type":"news","domain":"games","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":["The live-service title was released in February 2024 after more than seven years of development and multiple delays.","Axel Rydby, who became director of Suicide Squad in 2022, said internal meetings shifted from game content to recouping rising costs, with executives focusing on player numbers and replayability.","The game struggled with poor sales and cultural clashes at the studio, leading to layoffs and canceled content."]}