Rocksteady Studios’ highly anticipated Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed from its planned May release to February 2024, according to an official statement. This announcement follows a prior delay in March and a new gameplay footage release in February, which received an overwhelming amount of negative reactions from both fans and critics.
Initially announced in August 2020, the game features several popular DC villains such as Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang, and it is based on a long-running comic book series. The game is set to be connected to the Arkham series of games, in contrast to the 2022 flop DC co-op game, Gotham Knights. However, gamers will now have to wait for nearly a year to experience the latest title from Rocksteady.
While the short delay in March was initially thought to be just for polishing purposes, the longer delay announced today may provide an opportunity for the developers to overhaul the game’s live-service aspects. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier explained on Twitter that the previous delay was likely not meant to overhaul the core gameplay but rather to polish what was already present. The recent delay, on the other hand, gives the developers a more extended period to possibly modify the game’s live-service features.
It’s uncertain whether the game’s multiple currencies or always-online requirement will be entirely removed, but some of the features that received a tepid response from prospective players might be streamlined or altered. However, a complete expunging of all live-service aspects may be unrealistic and would require a much longer and more costly delay.
Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad game has suffered delays in the past. The game was initially scheduled to release in 2022 but was delayed to spring 2023. With this latest delay, there are concerns that it might be stuck in development hell, like Ubisoft’s oft-delayed pirate game. Fans and developers alike hope that the game will be released soon, for the sake of all involved.
As a wise developer once said, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” This has been true in most cases, for example No Man’s Sky was rushed out before all the promises were fulfilled and it came out in a terrible state that caused a lot of backlash, but looking at it now, if it was delayed just a bit more and deliver on more if not most promises, it could have avoided all the troubles in the first place. But now the game is doing great and they are beloved by the gaming community for the constant updates and love given by the developers.
