Rocksteady developers cite burnout and corporate pressure on Suicide Squad

Rocksteady developers cite burnout and corporate pressure on Suicide Squad

The development of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League left former Rocksteady Studios employees feeling drained and disillusioned with the gaming industry. In interviews with Bloomberg, former director Axel Rydby and designer Johnny Armstrong described a production environment where creative vision was superseded by corporate mandates for player engagement.

Rocksteady, known for three single-player Batman Arkham games, faced a shift in direction when parent company Warner Bros. Required a live-service title. This was a format the studio had never attempted before. While the developer and Warner Bros. Initially agreed to be generous to players to avoid forcing them to buy a bunch of crap to enjoy the game, that approach shifted as production stretched over seven years.

As the game faced repeated delays and the budget grew, executives pressured the team to maximize replayability to recoup investments. Rydby, who joined Rocksteady in fall 2018 as top designer before becoming director in 2022, noted that meetings often focused on how to twist designs to reach more players.

"That’s when I started feeling like I wasn’t making games anymore,"

Axel Rydby, former Director, via Bloomberg

Rydby stated he felt he was following an elusive marketing-analysis spreadsheet that no one could present clearly, leading him to feel the industry was no longer where he wanted to work.

Armstrong, a Rocksteady employee since 2010, echoed this sentiment of burnout. He described a grueling pace where the team put in extensive hours without feeling the game was tangibly improving, stating, Everyone felt like they were having to run to stand still.

"I felt everything drained from me," Armstrong said. "I said, ‘I can’t do this again. I don’t know if I’m done with the industry, but I’m done.’ I could feel myself coming apart at the seams."

Johnny Armstrong, former Designer, via Bloomberg

The corporate pressure and creative friction preceded a difficult launch in February 2024. Warner Bros. Described the game as a financial disappointment and the catalyst for a tough quarter, taking a $200 million loss. Rocksteady's own annual financial report revealed a severe impact on its bottom line:

The studio reported that profits dropped by 57.3% and turnover fell by 14% in 2024. Rocksteady attributed these results to the fact that low public acceptance of the company's content will adversely affect its results. This financial downturn coincided with two waves of layoffs. The first occurred between August and October 2024, targeting the quality assurance (QA) team. A second wave of cuts followed at the end of 2024, affecting programmers, artists, and more QA staff, resulting in an overall staff reduction of 17%.

Despite the turmoil, Rocksteady committed to completing four seasons of content. The final season, which began December 10, 2024, introduces the character Deathstroke and the final battle against Brainiac. Rocksteady terminated support for the game on January 14, 2025, though the game remains playable and purchasable with a newly added offline mode that allows access to post-launch content without an internet connection.

Both Rydby and Armstrong have since left Rocksteady. They have partnered to launch an independent RPG deckbuilder called Secret of Circadia, seeking $11,404 through a Kickstarter campaign to regain their creative spark.

While many key creatives from the Arkham era have departed, Rocksteady continues to operate. The studio has co-developed a director's cut of Hogwarts Legacy and is reportedly hoping to develop a new single-player game. Rumors suggest the studio may return to the Batman franchise for its next project.