Jez Corden has dropped a surprising tidbit related to the delay of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Jez simply tweeted:
“I’ve heard that part of the delay to Suicide Squad is to remove/rework the “always online” component.”
We recently reported that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would be delayed to February 2, 2024. Rocksteady simply cited the ‘needed work on getting the game to be the best quality experience for players.’
This was a confirmation of earlier rumors that a delay was happening. Sources had told various journalists that Warner Bros Games made the call to delay following the poor reception of a preview at a particular Sony showcase event.
While some people did not particularly care for the gameplay that people saw, there was one big issue that propped up prior to that show that had fans worried. It came to light in their FAQ that it would be an always online game.
This was not clearly and properly communicated by Warner Bros Games and Rocksteady Studios properly, and the reason for that seems to be because they were trying to hide the fact that it was clearly a live service game.
Live service games are paradoxically highly successful and highly unpopular at the moment. While Bungie continues to see success with Destiny 2, players are now communicating that they do not want to engage with more games that use the model. However, their actions do not match their words, as even moderately unpopular live service games are seeing good revenue.
For game studios and publishers, it’s a balancing act. Some games use some elements that have seen success under the live service game model, such as the battle pass, without fulling being a live service game themselves. However, many games, such as Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, just keep pushing forward with the model, and building on what their community requests, instead of skeptics who are not necessarily playing or enjoying the games themselves.
Removing the always online component is a bit of a double edged sword. It does mean that gamers won’t have to worry about losing the game someday when the servers go offline. However, it may also be an indication that it will still retain certain live service game elements to it.
But, perhaps, even that would be forgiven by gamers. What matters here would be if the game will turn out to be good. Rocksteady is working on addressing those particular concerns right now.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows.
