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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League director Axel Rydby has shared some insights on the live-service game that doomed a franchise. It’s hard to imagine that, given the general successes seen with the Arkham franchise, things could’ve gone as poorly as they did for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but that title went on to be one among the most important flops of the last decade. Its release proved once more that while a boardroom of execs might see dollar signs when moving a longtime single-player franchise right into a multiplayer live-service format, it doesn’t mean a money-driven process is the method to go. Rydby is one among 4 directors for the sport and had something to say about this very idea (via Bloomberg) as the sport saw delay after delay until it finally launched in 2024.
“That’s after I began feeling like I wasn’t making games anymore,” Rydby shared. “I used to be following a spreadsheet, some elusive marketing-analysis spreadsheet that nobody could present clearly. I type of felt like this isn’t the gaming industry I desired to work in.”
– Axel Rydby, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League director
Warner Bros/DC wasn’t the just one to fail to appreciate a live-service version of its IP. Marvel had the same experience with its Marvel’s Avengers, which featured a seemingly unfathomable amount of in-game purchases pinned to a skinny story. While it managed to barely outlast Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League before it too was shut down, the writing was already on the wall when Rocksteady Studios was developing DC’s game, which had been intended as a successor to the Arkham series. Nevertheless, it’s well-known that when a game’s development experiences delays, costs skyrocket, and investors will often seek ways to recoup by making changes or forcing features that don’t at all times align with making a game that may attract paying players.
Online gaming has somewhat seen a resurgence in 2025 and 2026 with the discharge of Helldivers 2 and Arc Raiders but still stays a dangerous enterprise. It’s hard to say if those in a boardroom who’re considering lots of of hundreds of thousands in investment for the epitome of one other shoehorned fan-favorite IP are really tapped into what draws online players, and moreso what entices them to maintain making ingame purchases, but one is thing of course, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League managed to kill a franchise.