Warner Bros Expected Suicide Squad To Become A Billion-Dollar IP

Expert Verified By

WB Lost $200 Million Instead!

Story Highlight
  • Suicide Squad became a complete disaster for Rocksteady and Warner Bros.
  • A new report highlights the troubles faced by the studio before this launch.
  • The report confirms Warner Bors. had unrealistic expectations for the title.

Warner Bros was very ambitious with Suicide Squad. With the publisher’s best team leading development, the potential of live-service, and characters from DC comics, what could go wrong?

Unfortunately, Suicide Squad became a huge failure at release. It led to $200 million in losses for Warner Bros, but a new report highlights how unrealistic the publisher’s initial expectations were.

According to very reliable sources, the studio hoped Suicide Squad would become a billion-dollar IP.

Why it matters: Very few franchises in the industry can claim to be worth a billion dollars, making this expectation quite strange from the beginning.

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League
Suicide Squad Couldn’t Even Manage 20K Concurrent Steam Players

Suicide Squad launched in February as an ambitious superhero live service title from Rocksteady, which had an incredible record of releasing successful games till that point.

Famous for pioneering the Batman Arkham series, this studio had never been known for releasing a bad game. This changed in 2024, and Bloomberg’s latest report highlights many of the problems faced by Rocksteady throughout its development.

According to the report, leadership was often slow to provide feedback on the game’s vertical slices. Elsewhere, the publishers put the team in a difficult situation by asking them to move out of their single-player comfort zone.

Feedback from Warner Bros. was also far from optimal. The studio would praise the graphics and tout it up to be a blockbuster IP. However, they failed to realize how badly the IP would fail in the face of intense live-service competition.

Once key leadership departed from the studio, Rocksteady’s ambitions quickly turned into a nightmare. Many still held out hope that the game would eventually come together, but it never did.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Suicide Squad Is Set To Be Supported For At Least One Year

According to the report, the team hopes to create a single-player game next. In order to redeem itself, it intends to return to its roots.

However, another report also states that Rocksteady is under the threat of being completely shut down by Warner Bros. Therefore, it remains to be seen what the future holds for this developer.

Was our article helpful? 👨‍💻

Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔

Gear Up For Latest News

Get exclusive gaming & tech news before it drops. Sign up today!

Join Our Community

Still having issues? Join the Tech4Gamers Forum for expert help and community support!

Latest News

Join Our Community

104,000FansLike
32,122FollowersFollow

Trending

PlayStation Reports Strong Growth While Steam and Xbox Face Industry Slowdown

A new report by Newzoo shows that PlayStation has been dominating the gaming industry in various departments as consoles lead market growth.

Microsoft Wants To Develop New IPs Despite Its Already Massive Library, Says Xbox Boss

Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, recently revealed in an interview that Xbox is committed to develop more news IPs.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Could Be the Best Showcase of PSSR on PS5 Pro Yet

PSSR is finally supported for Assassin's Creed Shadows on the PS5 Pro, and the difference in the settings enabled is substantial.

Video Games Don’t Need Hollywood Adaptations To Be Successful, Says Xbox Head

In a new interview, Phil Spencer said that not every franchise should be adapted into a movie and that video games are successful by its own.

Days Gone Remastered: Bend Studio Promises A Next-Level Experience on PS5

Bend Studio has recently talked about Days Gone Remastered, stating that the title will offer fans a next-level experience.