• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Jason Scheier/Bloomberg: Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is Dead on Arrival. Rocksteady has been working on it since 2017.

Fake

Member
fBHLgdz.jpg

Christ dude put a spoiler lmao.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
This is the one time I don't mind a Schreier article because it's stating the obvious that many of us already knew or expected. But this article isn't for us, it's for the Bloomberg readers so it's probably fairly enlightening for them. Are people interested in Suicide Squad? Sure. But I feel like even more are on the opposite side of the spectrum for a variety of reasons. Reasons that I can't help but agree with, at least from what I've seen via videos. From the UI, to the combat, to the camera, and more. It just looks like a mess of a project to me. Especially for a AAA and Rocksteady title.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Well ~sweeet. That means deep discount on sales day and I gotta play for the story anyway, down the line.

Yeah gameplay visual overload is insane. I can't even watch the footage for too long, how are people gonna stay long for story to grab them ?

edit - I don't think human eyes can survive 30 mins playing this. wow
 
Last edited:
I don't think so.
It's hated because the gameplay is generic, everyone has a gun and jumps around as if they're flying, which makes absolute no sense with the characters, Gothan is colorfull in contrast with real Gothan, the boss battle is straight up stupid with Flash, the fastest hero alive, simply keep itself open for attacks for a time, etc.


Dude, take away the GaaS elements and the game would still look like crap. Think it's bad just because it's GaaS is pure fallacy.
Yeah, we've got a more authentic take on their abilities in Telltale's Lego games.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
Trend-chasing driven games development. Sounds about right with the way things are. I don't care for Scheier but he is right here.

Truth.

I mean....we can all feel this game is going to be a flop. Some times you can see that shit a mile away and I'm not saying this as a hardcore gamer or something just cause my favorite game coming this year will be Persona 3 remake or Granblue or something, I'm saying this as I don't see the massive hype, appeal or anything like that we see with stuff like this before a massive launch.

Not like Arkham, not like Spiderman.

This shit has flop written all over it. Its at no fault to Rocksteady either, they were contracted to make this, someone had certain things they wanted this game to be about regarding this online thing.
 

Mooreberg

is sharpening a shovel and digging a ditch
False.

Change is difficult. You only change when you're forced to. The Batman liscense ate into their profits and each title was getting more expensive to make without an increase in sales ceiling.

Also, critical acclaim is basically meaningless. It doesn't pay the bills.

This is a brewery post, so I might be missing something obvious, but...

WB has owned DC since 1967. Why would the license for Batman be eating into profits for any game being published by Warner Games? This would be like the Halo license being too expensive for an acquired ATVI studio if MS ever decided they wanted a different set of hands working on the property.

Also, WB bought a majority stake in Rocksteady in 2010. Why would they be "paying" anything for the license at that point?

Anyway, I hope this doesn't sink the studio, but seven years of development and closing in on nine years since their last release, the expectations are not gonna be healthy. They did for super hero games what Nolan did for super hero movies, they deserve better than this.
 
The Arkham games were in many ways like a spiritual successor to Batman the Animated Series, which I loved so much as a kid.

Now they take a big, fat dump on it, what is actually wrong with people?

Also, once again I can't get over how not that much better it looks than Knight, meanwhile compare Knight to any game from 2006 to see what a 9 year difference used to mean, to say nothing of how radically things were in 2005 versus 1996.
 

Kerotan

Member
This could sink the studio. Hopefully not and hopefully they get the next 4 years to make a batman game again.

I actually thought SS was a single player title. Will it have a campaign at least?
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
This is a brewery post, so I might be missing something obvious, but...

WB has owned DC since 1967. Why would the license for Batman be eating into profits for any game being published by Warner Games? This would be like the Halo license being too expensive for an acquired ATVI studio if MS ever decided they wanted a different set of hands working on the property.

Also, WB bought a majority stake in Rocksteady in 2010. Why would they be "paying" anything for the license at that point?

Anyway, I hope this doesn't sink the studio, but seven years of development and closing in on nine years since their last release, the expectations are not gonna be healthy. They did for super hero games what Nolan did for super hero movies, they deserve better than this.

You are right about the licensing issue, but my point still stands.

No person, or organization, changes unless they have to. The SP Batman games were getting more expensive to make with each installment and their sales ceiling wasn't rising at a healthy enough rate.

They were forced to jump off that train because it led to a 1,000ft cliff.
 

FeralEcho

Member
Yes, the combat and mobility look like a huge improvement over the Batman games.
Cracking Up Lol GIF by HULU

Spoken like someone who hasnt played Arkham City or Knight or even seen any footage of it literally...The amount of shit you can do in those games is insane even by today's standards in 90% of games let alone this turd where all you do is slide and swing and shoot purple zits.... That's all you do in this game.

Here's what Arkham Knight looks with just a sliver of what you can do in combat and how fast the mobility is from videos I made 8 years ago....





 
I'll never understand how these companies continue to give people exactly what they don't want...

Avengers, and Gotham Knights weren't enough for you to see this was not It?
Back in 2017 when they were put on this it probably looked like a great idea. Unfortunately when you go too deep into the rabbit hole and the expenses keep rising you only have 2 options, cut your losses or see it out to the end 🤷
 

Hudo

Member
Could this game kill Rocksteady?

They do not have other game to get.money at this moment, right?
Aren't they part of WB Games? So unless WB Games decide to kill Rocksteady, I don't think they need to be overly concerned with revenue.

Of course, WB Games management might see the failure of Justice League as a sign to close the studio. Who knows?
 
You are right about the licensing issue, but my point still stands.

No person, or organization, changes unless they have to. The SP Batman games were getting more expensive to make with each installment and their sales ceiling wasn't rising at a healthy enough rate.

They were forced to jump off that train because it led to a 1,000ft cliff.
So the solution was to pivot to an even more expensive way of making games in a more competitive environment?

Seem like they jumped off old school steam train that stopped at stations for tea and biscuits. Only to jump on a Bullet train heading towards the same cliff.
 

Portugeezer

Member
Gamers shitting on a game if one thing, but there's something tacky about "game journos ®™©" shitting on a game before it's release.

 
More of these big GaaS need to fail miserably, so companies go back to make normal, good games.
So if this game flops hard, it's great news for us gamers, as it sends a clear message to the gaming industry: enough with all these GaaS.
When this game flops, it may be a cautionary tale to some publishers, but the big "lesson" that will be taken away is "Oh, no one cares about the Arkhamverse anymore." It won't be that live service games are a bad trend to chase. The people making these decisions will not blame themselves, they'll blame fickle consumers. The answer is never "we were wrong to go in this direction." Rocksteady will get blamed for "doing live service wrong" and maybe someone's head will roll for insisting it be Suicide Squad and the Arkhamverse. They'll almost certainly try again with another IP expecting a different result.
 

Braag

Member
I've skimmed through 6 previews of this game they've all been mostly negative.
Sefton Hill bailed at the right time.
 
When someone asks why Western developers don't give people what they want, the answer is clear: because they don't want to. Like in cinema, most of them HATE the IPs they are working on, they hate their characters, and, above all, they hate their fans. It's no coincidence that Disney, Sony, WB, Netflix, or any other content creator, produce games or movies that not only are bad but also (and most importantly) shit on the legacy of those IPs and the people who love them.

This game being a GaaS is just the icing on the cake. It suffers from the same disease as every other superhero / mainstream product nowadays. Only ill-fated people would force well-loved characters into this cheap parody of a game.

As a result, this will flop and quite probably the studio will shut down. Good riddance.
 

Fake

Member
I'll never understand how these companies continue to give people exactly what they don't want...

Avengers, and Gotham Knights weren't enough for you to see this was not It?

IMO social media litelary did this damage.

Just look at the quantity of devs saying and posting shit on Twitter.

Its nuts what they assume every time.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
This could sink the studio. Hopefully not and hopefully they get the next 4 years to make a batman game again.

I actually thought SS was a single player title. Will it have a campaign at least?
There IS a campaign, but if you don't play with other players, apparently you play with bots.

Gamers shitting on a game if one thing, but there's something tacky about "game journos ®™©" shitting on a game before it's release.


I personally think them showing differing opinions is a good thing. I mean, just like "gamers", they're real people and no different. So I'd much rather them be honest with themselves and others than not. A lot of people think the negativity isn't warranted, and that's fine. But for all we've seen over the years regarding AAA games and what feels like paid reviews or publicity, this just feels more realistic. From what I've seen no one has out right said this game is awful (IGN was close), but a lot do point out some concerns.
 

ManaByte

Banned
Gamers shitting on a game if one thing, but there's something tacky about "game journos ®™©" shitting on a game before it's release.



Then they cry about being blacklisted.

There IS a campaign, but if you don't play with other players, apparently you play with bots.


I personally think them showing differing opinions is a good thing. I mean, just like "gamers", they're real people and no different. So I'd much rather them be honest with themselves and others than not. A lot of people think the negativity isn't warranted, and that's fine. But for all we've seen over the years regarding AAA games and what feels like paid reviews or publicity, this just feels more realistic. From what I've seen no one has out right said this game is awful (IGN was close), but a lot do point out some concerns.

The rule has always been that previews are meant to be neutral. Usually because preview code is unfinished and you won't be playing the finished game until review code.
 
Last edited:

MiguelItUp

Member
Then they cry about being blacklisted.



The rule has always been that previews are meant to be neutral. Usually because preview code is unfinished and you won't be playing the finished game until review code.
Maybe that "rule" was something Rocksteady wasn't clear about? Or maybe Rocksteady told them to be honest and true? Of course, the previews typically don't represent the final product, but I would certainly imagine the press/content creators previewing the game are aware of that. Of course playtesters, not so much.
 

ManaByte

Banned
Maybe that "rule" was something Rocksteady wasn't clear about? Or maybe Rocksteady told them to be honest and true? Of course, the previews typically don't represent the final product, but I would certainly imagine the press/content creators previewing the game are aware of that. Of course playtesters, not so much.

Rocksteady has no say, it's WB Games PR who sets the "rule". And it's not a per-game rule either. It's a standard rule that all gaming writers have been following since people have been writing about games. This time the game "journalists" decided to break that rule, and you can tell it pissed off Rocksteady and WB with how they quickly ditched the NDA on the alpha.
 
Fqk8nD3aIAA9z6R.jpg



One of the greatest videogame developers of all time reduced to ashes. A decade just... gone. Fuck whoever is responsible for this.
You know what's messed up? I've been looking at old games recently and I search them up on Wikipedia. Most of the dev studios just either disappear, get asorbed or remain in name only (totally different to what they once were) very few actually remain and be the same.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Rocksteady has no say, it's WB Games PR who sets the "rule". And it's not a per-game rule either. It's a standard rule that all gaming writers have been following since people have been writing about games. This time the game "journalists" decided to break that rule, and you can tell it pissed off Rocksteady and WB with how they quickly ditched the NDA on the alpha.
Yes, it's WB Games that handles it as the publisher, correct. But that's the thing, do we have proof that this is the "journalists breaking the rule"? I mean, we can see what they've said via social media, but we don't know what they were told, informed, etc. I'm not sure if pissed is the word, but the most certainly reacted quickly regarding the NDA, I honestly figured it was to try and get more positive sentiment out there after IGN's preview went live.
 
Last edited:

Belthazar

Member
The rule has always been that previews are meant to be neutral. Usually because preview code is unfinished and you won't be playing the finished game until review code.

What kind of a rule is that? Previews, just as reviews, are meant to be informative. If the game sucks, it sucks.

The only difference in the case of previews is that they should include a disclaimer that their experience with the preview doesn't necessarily reflect the finished/entire product... Which all of those negative previews did.
 

simpatico

Member
Missing characters we care about is an aspect of the problem, but much less so than how dreadful the gameplay looks. If you reskinned machine gun man and anglo criminal man into Superman and Batman, this still wouldn't be a good game at all.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Missing characters we care about is an aspect of the problem, but much less so than how dreadful the gameplay looks. If you reskinned machine gun man and anglo criminal man into Superman and Batman, this still wouldn't be a good game at all.
From what I've seen and gathered, it appears that the differentiation between characters just isn't that bold. Sure, there's minor differences, but it doesn't sound as successful as other similar titles where there's broader distinctions between playable characters. I'm sure everyone just blasting with guns and the like doesn't really help either.
 

mdkirby

Member
Guardians was not a GaaS MP game. Stop pretending it is when you obviously never played it.
Guardians was great, but the problem was its direct initial comparisons to avengers. People already knew what avengers was, and how terrible it was, guardians, whilst not the same, looked the same, and the initial marketing did not do much to dispel that belief. It quickly cemented perceptions among enough people that it’s failure by association became a self fulfilling prophecy.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
The premise of this game in the arkham universe would have been awesome without the live service and without the suicide squad and the kill part.


Such a shame that Injustice is also nowhere to be seen.
 
Last edited:

ManaByte

Banned
Guardians was great, but the problem was its direct initial comparisons to avengers. People already knew what avengers was, and how terrible it was, guardians, whilst not the same, looked the same, and the initial marketing did not do much to dispel that belief. It quickly cemented perceptions among enough people that it’s failure by association became a self fulfilling prophecy.

If someone is stupid enough to assume something about a game and not actually research if it's true or not, maybe they shouldn't be playing games at all.
 

Grildon Tundy

Gold Member
You can't be chasing trends and expect a home run when a modern AAA game take 4+ years to develop. By the time your game releases, the fad has died and/or you're entering an oversaturated market with the devs who were able to get their games out a year or two before yours.
 

simpatico

Member
From what I've seen and gathered, it appears that the differentiation between characters just isn't that bold. Sure, there's minor differences, but it doesn't sound as successful as other similar titles where there's broader distinctions between playable characters. I'm sure everyone just blasting with guns and the like doesn't really help either.
Almost like Destiny chars where the main difference is how they fly.
 
WB are clueless for thinking this was a viable project.

It's a fucking crime to have wasted the soaring talent of Rocksteady Studio on a POS like this that nobody asked for.

They should just cancel the project and put the studio to work on an open-world, gritty TMNT game. That should have been the first choice.
 

ManaByte

Banned
From what I've seen and gathered, it appears that the differentiation between characters just isn't that bold. Sure, there's minor differences, but it doesn't sound as successful as other similar titles where there's broader distinctions between playable characters. I'm sure everyone just blasting with guns and the like doesn't really help either.

There is. Harley is more like a Batman character with a grapple hook and faster traversal. Deadshot has his sniper rifle and better at ranged. Shark is more melee with charges and ground slam attacks. Boomerang is the middle balanced of the characters.

They should just cancel the project and put the studio to work on an open-world, gritty TMNT game.

WB made that two years ago. GAF hated it because it had that evil thing called co-op, but it sold pretty well.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom