Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has disappointed Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of developer Rocksteady, to the tune of a $200 million hit to revenue.
Reporting its Q1 financial results, Warner Bros. Discovery said its Games revenue declined significantly as a result of a tough comparison with last year’s best-selling video game Hogwart’s Legacy. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice “generated significantly lower revenues” compared with those generated by Hogwart’s Legacy during the same three-month period, the company said.
In a follow-up investor-focused call, Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav called the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League “disappointing”, before Warner Bros. Discovery chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels detailed an impairment charge the company absorbed as a result of the game’s failure.
“Starting with Studios, the $400 million+ year-over-year decline during Q1 was primarily due to the very tough comp we faced in games against the success of Hogwart’s Legacy last year in the first quarter, in conjunction with the disappointing Suicide Squad release this past quarter, which we impaired, leading to a $200 million impact to EBITDA during the first quarter,” Wiedenfels said. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was panned by critics upon launch, with extremely low player numbers on Steam. Some of the frustration stems from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League not being another Batman game from Rocksteady, despite the fact it is set within the Arkhamverse. The developer’s Batman Arkham series is much-loved by fans, with 2011’s Batman: Arkham City in particular held up as one of the greatest, if not the greatest superhero video game of all time. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, on the other hand, is a live service third-person combat game in which Batman is a villain.
Rocksteady now faces tough questions around Warner Bros.’ long-term commitment to Suicide Squad’s live service. Warner Bros. is yet to announce Rocksteady’s next project. But earlier this month, it revealed Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR game developed by Camouflaj, maker of the Iron Man VR game, and set for release exclusively on the Meta Quest 3 later in 2024.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
