Rocksteady reportedly experiencing layoffs following Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperformance

Rocksteady has reportedly seen substantial job losses following the momentous financial underperformance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League which released earlier this year. The cuts include a downsizing of the studio’s Quality Assurance team by around 50%, along with other divisions being affected.

As per a report to Eurogamer by anonymous Rocksteady staff, the company has undergone “restructuring”, with the QA department in particular reduced from 33 team members down to only 15. It is also reported that the QA team’s workload hasn’t exactly gone down despite the drastic cuts in staff, meaning that the remaining members will be shouldered with more work while being deprived of the experience of those who were laid off.

Other teams have also been affected, with one staff member reportedly receiving the news of his job loss while on paternity leave. According to Eurogamer’s sources, Rocksteady senior management has acknowledged that with the loss of so many QA team members in particular, product quality is likely to be negatively impacted. With the game already experiencing issues like progression-breaking bugs during the early access period, the last thing the studio needs is fewer QA staff.

This news, while disappointing, is not especially surprising. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been a critical and financial failure, and while Rocksteady has committed to supporting the game with additional post-launch characters and content, it hasn’t done much to win back the crowd following the game’s shaky launch. With Bloomberg reporting in June of this year that a large number of Rocksteady staff have been moved onto working on a Director’s Cut of Hogwarts Legacy, Rocksteady may see itself demoted to a Warner Bros support studio once its promised final season of support for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ends.

Rocksteady has yet to formally confirm the reports of the layoffs. Hopefully the affected staff who have lost their jobs will quickly find new roles at other studios.