Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a live service game? It very much looks like it is, with elements such as a battle pass and gear scores. But developer Rocksteady seems at pains to avoid the now cursed phrase when talking about its game.
As reported by GamesRadar, PLAY Magazine interviewed Rocksteady studio product director Darius Sadeghian who failed to refer to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as a live service game even once, instead suggesting it does not fit within any existing video game genre.
"We don't really think of our game as fitting with any particular label," Sadeghian is quoted as saying. "We knew we wanted to make a four-player co-op game, so we spent a lot of time iterating on our characters. For us, it wasn't so much about making a game in any particular genre. Rather, the focus is on creating a sense of flow and trinity between all our gameplay systems. That's reflected in the way the traversal, melee, and shooter elements all blend together when you're playing.”
In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League you play as one of four supervillains (Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark) who take on members of the Justice League. You can play solo or co-op with friends in the open-world city of Metropolis. Suicide Squad follows Rocksteady’s critically acclaimed Batman Arkham series, which includes a number of single-player, story-focused, and very much non-live service games.
Rocksteady has faced an uphill challenge bringing its fans on-side following the announcement of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the revelations about its live service elements, with many hoping for a return to the developer’s roots with a Batman Arkham-style game in the future.
Sadeghian insisted Suicide Squad is "still full of the DNA that infuses the Batman: Arkham series." But it remains to be seen whether fans agree when the game finally comes out on February 2 after a series of high-profile delays.
"Our goal is to build a community with this game,” Sadeghian continued. “We want each player to feel like they're part of Suicide Squad and, more broadly, a global Suicide Squad community. This has been at the core of our development and the game has been built from the ground up as an experience that can be shared with friends."
The industry appears to be struggling with live service games after a number or recent efforts failed to move the needle and some were even cancelled before launch. Perhaps most notably, Sony canned Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game amid a more general pull back on live service at PlayStation. Naughty Dog will now focus on single-player games.
Previously successful live service games have also hit hard times. Bungie’s Destiny 2 has struggled commercially, and Fortnite maker Epic has announced huge layoffs. Meanwhile, some single-player only games saw enormous success in 2023, with the likes of Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Baldur’s Gate 3 blowing up sales records.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
