The two studio heads and co-founders of Rocksteady have left the studio, sparking serious concerns for the development of Suicide Squad.
With Gotham Knights now out in the wild, the only other major DC video games on the horizon are Monolith Productions’ Wonder Woman (which likely isn’t coming out for several more years) and Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
Described as an open world shooter that can be played solo or cooperatively, we’ve yet to be shown any unfiltered gameplay, with the majority of the pre-release material focusing on the story and characters.
Between that and the game being pushed back from its 2022 launch into 2023, it’s easy to assume that things aren’t going smoothly behind the scenes. A feeling only heightened by the unexpected departure of the people in charge of Rocksteady.
The news comes from David Haddad, the president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the games publisher that oversees the companies’ developers, including Rocksteady.
No reason has been given for why Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker, who also co-founded Rocksteady in 2004, have decided to leave. All that’s been said is that it was an ‘emotional’ decision, and that production directors Nathan Burlow and Darius Sadeghian are taking over.
‘We are very proud to have worked alongside Jamie and Sefton, who have led their talented teams to create some of the best games in the world,’ reads the letter posted to Rocksteady’s website.
It includes a message from Hill and Walker themselves, but it only mentions how thankful they are for their time at the studio and doesn’t say what they intend to do next, although they’re not exiting the industry.
‘Now with Suicide Squad in safe hands, and the team here stronger than ever, it’s time to hand over the reins, and for us to start a new adventure together in games,’ they say.
While the messages portray a positive outlook for the future of Rocksteady, it’s hard to imagine that everything’s been sunshine and roses for the studio.
Their last games were 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight (which capped off the Arkham series) and the 2016 Batman: Arkham VR spin-off, which means that if Suicide Squad does come out in 2023 it’ll have been the best part of a decade in the making.
Suicide Squad wasn’t formally announced until 2020, with Rocksteady having been completely silent for the intervening years. On top of that, the studio was hit with allegations of sexual harassment and claims that the top brass failed to meaningfully address them.
Suicide Squad lacks an exact release month, but its currently scheduled for the first half of 2023. The people in charge of the studio jumping ship when the game still has at least two or three months of development to go is not a good sign though.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will launch for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC in early 2023.
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