Instead of a Happy New Month message, several Rocksteady employees have been told that the company no longer requires their services. One source told Eurogamer that the Quality Assurance team shrunk from 33 to 15.
The job losses are a direct consequence of the poor performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The poor sales of the game were cited as the main reason for the “restructuring”, according to the source.
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Ryan Dinsdale of IGN said Rocksteady management has allegedly acknowledged the quality of the game will likely be impacted as the remaining QA testers struggle to fill the gap left behind by those laid off—meaning they have to put in twice their previous effort.
Although the studio management has yet to make an official announcement on the exact number of people affected by the layoff, IGN said 18 staff, cut across junior and veteran team members, were impacted.
One staff member revealed on social media over the weekend they had been made redundant while still on paternity leave. Last month, Warner Bros. reported a 41% year-on-year gaming revenue decline following the “weak performance” of Suicide Squad.
Suicide Squad is one of the worst outings from Rocksteady
Launched on February 2, 2024, Suicide Squad has continued to get post-launch content. However, following the layoff announcement, it is unclear what the future holds for the game.
Kill the Justice League was poorly received. On Metacritic, its highest average critic score was 63 on PC. The number dropped to 61 on Xbox Series X and 60 on PS5. Many find it hard to believe the game is from the same studio that made the multiple award-winning Batman: Arkham series.
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It appears those impacted by the layoff were informed in the middle of August. QA tester James Desmond was one of the first to post about the layoff on LinkedIn.
“This is a rather strange post for me but, after 2 years at Rocksteady Studios Ltd my journey of feature testing with the AI & Bot team – working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has come to an end!”
“Similar to many others in the #QA team, I was also affected by the restructuring and while I had mixed feelings toward this, ultimately, I’m grateful for the time spent.”
What do you think was the real reason behind the poor reception of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League? Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below.
