After its newest season concludes, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League will cease future substantial updates, ending the live service game’s run just a month short of its first anniversary.
In an update outlining the game’s fourth season, developer Rocksteady Studios announced that its divisive Suicide Squad shoot-em-up will be winding down support seemingly for good. The fourth season is going out with a literal bang, adding the gun-toting famed DC villain Deathstroke as a new playable character. But the season also includes an offline mode to ensure players can access the game without an internet connection.
“Season 4 will finish up with Episode 8, which is scheduled to release in January 2025, and that will serve as the last seasonal Episode for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” the post reads. “While Season 4 Episode 8 will mark the final battle against Brainiac, all online features will continue to be available, so you’ll still be able to enjoy co-op with friends, as well as all previous seasonal/episodic content.”
In addition to the new mode and character, the season will include a new medieval-themed Elseworld area for players to tackle, a new “Gorilla Warfare” weapon set themed after Flash villain Gorilla Grodd, and some LexCorp-themed outfits for the game’s titular anti-heroes.
It’s not that much of a surprise to see Rocksteady prepping to move on from Suicide Squad. The game failed to retain its already small audience since its release last February. While it’s far from the whole picture, SteamDB gives us an idea of how hard of a fall-off the game had. It cracked a measly 13,400 concurrent players at launch and has since dipped as low as just over 130 players.
SteamDB chart shows a spike in players during Black Friday when the game was on sale for just $4 (that’s 95% off for those keeping track). But player numbers have dipped back down to below 1,100 players as of this writing.
It is admirable for Rocksteady to add an offline mode to Suicide Squad. Ensuring players can access the product they purchased regardless of their internet situation is always the right, pro-consumer move. However, it does feel like the team is laying the groundwork for the shutdown of the game. Considering the lack of a community around the game, keeping it online seems like a waste of resources for a company in the midst of slimming down its gaming business.
Suicide Squad’s arc follows a broader trend for live service games this year. There were some smash hits like Helldivers 2, Marvel Rivals, and Infinity Nikki. But there were also some colossal flops. PlayStation’s Concord shut down in less than a month. Ubisoft’s XDefiant unwisely challenged Call of Duty for the military shooter throne at the worst possible time. And Suicide Squad, a game few people would have seen coming from the veterans that made the Batman Arkham series, didn’t make the splash WB Games hoped for.
At the very least, it seems like Suicide Squad’s shortcomings won’t affect the broader team at Rocksteady. It’s rumored that the studio is set to make another entry in the Batman series that put it on the map. Assuming it’s a single-player experience, it could be a nice return to form for the talented team.
