Founded back in 2004, Rocksteady Studios has been a surprisingly quiet studio. In 2006, Rocksteady released its first game, a riot police FPS titled Urban Chaos: Riot Response. Despite that game's poor reception, and Rocksteady's relative inexperience in the industry, the studio was handed the keys to the Batman franchise, and in 2009, the developer changed the superhero video game industry for good with Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Over the next seven years, Rocksteady continued to focus its efforts on the Batman: Arkham series, releasing two sequels and one VR spin-off. Aside from Urban Chaos and Batman: Arkham, Rocksteady has never worked on another project - until now. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League marks a semi-departure from Rocksteady's usual series, in terms of setting, characters, and gameplay. And generally speaking, many fans are wishing that Rocksteady had just rested on its laurels for a little longer. But Rocksteady always has a failsafe ready to go.
If Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Fails, Batman: Arkham Could Be Right Around the Corner
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has not had the greatest reception so far. Though its initial announcement back in August 2020 was met with quite a bit of intrigue, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has since plummeted from grace, with its recent gameplay reveal decimating all interest the game had garnered over the last three years. Live-service integration, repetitive enemy designs, lackluster combat, same-y looking character abilities, and a bizarre focus on looter-shooter gameplay are all just some of the main reasons behind the sudden uproar surrounding Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Soon after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's first big gameplay deep-dive, Rocksteady announced that it would be delaying the game. At the time, it was unclear just how long this delay would be, but it was soon confirmed that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would no longer hit its 2023 release window, and is now planned for a February 2024 launch. Though the exact reasons behind this delay aren't really known, it seems likely that Rocksteady is in crisis mode, currently trying to fix everything about the game that fans had an issue with, but it might not be that simple.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's core problems can't be easily fixed or removed. While Rocksteady can remove Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's live-service elements, add some more hero abilities, and rework some enemy designs, the vast majority of the game's core issues are baked deep into the central gameplay loop. Rocksteady can't remove the game's controversial looter-shooter gameplay since that's an intrinsic part of the experience, an experience that Rocksteady has seemingly been working on for years. At the end of the day, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League just won't be everyone's cup of tea, regardless of any changes Rocksteady makes. But that doesn't mean Rocksteady is done for.
Though Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has already shaken many fans' belief in Rocksteady, there's still one easy way that the studio could earn back its adoration, and that's by producing another Batman: Arkham game. It might feel cheap, but many fans are clamoring for a new Batman: Arkham game, and it's a surefire way to bring those fans back to Rocksteady's side. If done well, a new Batman: Arkham game - or at least one set in the same universe surrounding its central characters - could easily remind fans of why they began to follow Rocksteady in the first place, restoring faith in a studio that's responsible for changing the superhero video game landscape for the better.