Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is widely regarded as a commercial and critical failure, but for those inside Rocksteady, the game's seven-year development cycle was a source of personal and professional trauma that nearly drove key staff out of the industry entirely.
Associate design lead Johnny Armstrong and game director Axel Rydby recently spoke with Bloomberg about the intense pressure behind the scenes. According to the pair, the studio’s internal priorities shifted significantly over the years as production costs ballooned and Warner Bros. executives pushed for features intended to maximize player reach and replayability.
The Shift to Spreadsheet-Driven Design
For Rydby, the creative process gradually felt less like game development and more like data entry. “That’s when I started feeling like I wasn’t making games anymore,” Rydby explained. “I was following a spreadsheet, some elusive marketing-analysis spreadsheet that no one could present clearly. I kind of felt like this isn't the gaming industry I wanted to work in.”
The impact on the development team was profound. The project’s failure, which resulted in a reported $200 million write-off for Warner Bros. Games and multiple rounds of layoffs at Rocksteady, mirrored the internal disillusionment felt by the staff. The situation was severe enough that the studio reportedly saw the cancelation of Monolith’s Wonder Woman game during the same period of instability.
Finding Passion Outside of AAA
Armstrong described a similar sense of exhaustion following the game's launch. “I felt everything drained from me,” he said. “I said, 'I can't do this again. I don't know if I'm done with the industry, but I'm done.' I could feel myself coming apart at the seams.”
Both Armstrong and Rydby have since left Rocksteady. They are now collaborating on an indie project titled Secret of Circadia, a retro deckbuilder RPG. While the project’s Kickstarter funding—currently at $1500 toward an $11,382 goal—is a far cry from the massive budgets of their previous work, the move has allowed them to rediscover their love for the craft.
Reflecting on the current state of the industry, Rydby offered a blunt warning to publishers who prioritize sales potential over developer passion. “I think as an industry we are severely losing our way,” Rydby said. “It used to be passion projects that you loved and hoped other people loved too. When they did, it was such an amazing feeling. It became less and less of that. It became: 'Let's hope it sells. Let's hope we get money from it.'”