To say Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was a disappointment would be an understatement. Many believe that Rocksteady Studios, the minds behind the highly regarded Arkham series, seriously dropped the ball when working on the all-villains-led new title.
When the game was first revealed, people were understandably excited; not many studios had worked with the cantankerous crew before, and the studio had good standing in the community. However, the game was pretty much panned from launch, and recent sales numbers show it’s not going to be able to bounce back.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Episode 2 Could Very Well End Up Being the Game’s Last
Live-service games depend on player retention to be successful. Without a constant influx of active users, the game is pretty much dead in the water. So, studios developing such games need to have a slew of new content ready to be added to the game regularly as a way to remonetize the title. However, it’s bad news when people are not buying these updates.
Such is the case with Suicide Squad. The gaming community is now more critical of live service games than ever before, and Rocksteady’s latest release has added fuel to that fire. Releasing in what can only be described as an incomplete state was bad enough, but the game itself didn’t offer anything that made a majority of players want to stick around.
‘Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’ Episode 2 Peaks At 18% Of Joker Debut, 4% Of Launch via @forbes https://t.co/c4tVM1ZXnq pic.twitter.com/L9WhmhN7fv
— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) May 27, 2024
The studio may have thought the release of a new episode with new content might ignite interest, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Paul Tassi shared a screenshot of the player count for the game after the release of Episode 2, clocking in at a peak of just 18% of Joker’s debut and 4% of launch.
The Joker was introduced in Episode 1 and brought in a concurrent Steam player peak of just 3,049. Episode 2 doesn’t add any new characters but does promise new content. However, even that doesn’t appear to be a good enough lure, as the game peaked at just a little over 500 players.
Rocksteady Might Have to Throw in the Towel for Suicide Squad
Live service titles that are not actively making money end up being a net loss for the company that has to continue paying for servers, new content creation, and general maintenance. People well-versed in the video game industry understand this and also understand the smart ways to monetize content to keep players happy.
Given the lack of excitement for the base game this may be a sign to the developers to end work on the game early and possibly shift its attention to any future projects in the pipeline. There are more issues than just a lack of content, and many of those are core aspects that would require changing the game entirely.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League probably doesn’t have much time left as it continues to bleed players. Don’t be surprised if you see it soon go free-to-play as a way to boost player numbers, but that still won’t guarantee monetization.
Do you think the game can be fixed with updates and content? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
