The studio has allegedly halved its QA department.
The legacy of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be one of loss, apparently, as Rocksteady Studios has laid off multiple staffers in the wake of the game's failure. Suicide Squad launched in January of this year and landed with a proverbial thud among fans. Tone deaf treatment of DC heroes like Batman and Superman, along with generic looter shooter gameplay, left consumers unimpressed, resulting in very low sales. During its Q4 2023 earnings call, Warner Bros. stated that Suicide Squad performed massively under expectations, setting the company up "for a tough year." WB alleges losses in the $200 million range, much of which coming from Suicide Squad.
Now, the consequences of that rough year are beginning to be made manifest, as layoffs have hit Rocksteady. It's being alleged that half of the QA department was let go, as well as positions among junior and senior-level staffers. Speaking to Eurogamer, remaining staffers believe that the loss of these workers will result in diminished quality of product. If Suicide Squad is any indication, Rocksteady needs to be upping quality, not lowering it, but apparently the staffers cut were considered "redundancies," a term often floated out by corporations wanting to save some cash. Sadly, one worker who was declared "redundant" was informed in the middle of her maternity leave.
It's certainly a rough patch for the industry as layoffs have been ongoing since the end of 2023. Bungie, Ubisoft, and countless others have reduced stuff and it's not looking like that trend is going away anytime soon. We'll continue to report on this upheaval as we learn more.
Source: Eurogamer
Comentarios