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Warner Bros. Discovery took a $200 million hit after the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice<\/em> League<\/em>, the troubled looter shooter<\/a> released in February \u2014 and now we have a sense of what went wrong. A new report from Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> details some of the studio\u2019s struggles behind the scenes, including inexperience with the multiplayer genre and a \u201cconstantly changing vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rocksteady, the UK-based studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, was tasked with developing a Suicide Squad<\/em> game in 2016. At this time, new Rocksteady employees were reportedly unaware that the studio was developing a multiplayer game, as Rocksteady is known for its single-player action-adventure games like Batman: Arkham Knight<\/em>. This caused many employees to leave, Bloomberg<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The game\u2019s development didn\u2019t go smoothly. Rocksteady\u2019s leaders kept changing their ideas for the game, turning their focus from melee combat to heavy gunplay, Bloomberg <\/em>reports. The studio struggled with making its battles, levels, and bosses feel less repetitive \u2014 one of the biggest issues for live-service titles, where players are asked to retread large parts of the game. The studio also wasn\u2019t accustomed to the level of complexity required to develop such a massive map and the four playable characters, according to Bloomberg<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rocksteady co-founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker left the studio in 2022<\/a> to start a new endeavor, with continued setbacks like this pushing the game\u2019s release date until this year. Warner Bros. Discovery revealed the game\u2019s $200 million loss during the company\u2019s earnings call in May, with CEO David Zaslav calling its release \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Financial pressure in the gaming industry only continues to mount as studios contend with layoffs affecting thousands of workers<\/a>. Some major studios have turned to live-service games<\/a>, like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League<\/em>, in an attempt to strike a constant source of revenue. But in Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s case, this backfired. According to Bloomberg<\/em>, Rocksteady has now turned its attention to a director\u2019s cut version of Hogwarts Legacy<\/em> and may even start working on another single-player game. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n