Nine years away from the spotlight still counts as a comeback.
After nearly a decade of silence, Rocksteady Studios returns in January 2024 with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a co-op action game that asks players to dismantle the very heroes they once celebrated. The release carries the weight of a studio's legacy and a publisher's financial year, arriving in a moment when the superhero genre must justify its own continued existence. A new gameplay trailer offers reassurance through spectacle, but the deeper question — whether craft endures across nine years of absence — will only be answered when the world actually plays it.
- Rocksteady has been silent since 2015, and the industry has not waited for them — every year of absence is a year of doubt the studio must now overcome.
- WB Games enters 2024 with enormous pressure: after Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 set a historic bar, Suicide Squad must prove the publisher's momentum wasn't a fluke.
- The new gameplay trailer leads with boss fights against corrupted Justice League members, deploying cinematic spectacle as a direct argument against skepticism.
- Early professional previews landed lukewarm, but closed alpha players broke their silence to defend the game — a quieter, more credible signal cutting against the critical hedge.
- With Deluxe Edition access beginning January 30 and standard release on February 2, the verdict arrives fast, and both Rocksteady's relevance and WB Games' 2024 trajectory hang on it.
Rocksteady Studios hasn't released a game since Arkham Knight in 2015, and now, nearly a decade later, it's stepping back into the arena with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. A new gameplay trailer offers the clearest preview yet: extended boss encounters against corrupted versions of the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman — the kind of choreographed, cinematic combat that once made the Arkham series a template for an entire genre.
The launch window is tight and deliberate. Deluxe Edition preorders unlock access on January 30, with the standard release following February 2 across Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. For WB Games, this is the flagship bet of the year. The publisher rode an extraordinary 2023 — Hogwarts Legacy sold over 22 million copies, Mortal Kombat 1 crossed 3 million by November — but those wins belong to the past now. Suicide Squad is the test that defines what comes next.
For Rocksteady, the stakes are more existential. The Arkham combat system became the blueprint everyone else borrowed, but blueprints age, and nine years is a long time to be absent while the industry moves forward. Early critical previews were cautious at best. Yet when the closed alpha NDA lifted, some players stepped forward to say they'd genuinely enjoyed it — not a ringing endorsement, but a more honest signal than hedged professional coverage.
The trailer is polished and confident. Whether that confidence reflects something real will be clear soon enough — for a studio trying to prove that silence isn't the same as obsolescence, and for a publisher that needs the momentum to hold.
Rocksteady Studios is about to find out whether nine years away from the spotlight still counts as a comeback. The developer behind three of the four Batman Arkham games hasn't released anything since 2015's Arkham Knight, and now, in late January 2024, it's stepping back into the arena with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League—a co-op action game built around the premise of taking down the corrupted members of DC's most powerful team.
A new gameplay trailer released ahead of launch gives the clearest look yet at what players will actually be doing when they boot up the game. The footage centers on boss encounters: you'll face off against the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman, each corrupted and dangerous in their own way. These aren't quick skirmishes. The trailer shows extended combat sequences, the kind of drawn-out, choreographed battles that define modern action games. It's the kind of content meant to reassure players that Rocksteady hasn't lost its touch with big, cinematic superhero combat.
The timing matters. Suicide Squad launches on January 30, 2024 for anyone who preordered the Deluxe Edition, with the standard version arriving February 2 across Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC. That's a narrow window, and it's intentional—this is WB Games' flagship release for the entire year. The publisher had an extraordinary 2023. Hogwarts Legacy sold over 22 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling game of the year. Mortal Kombat 1 moved more than 3 million copies by November alone. Both will continue generating revenue in 2024, but they're yesterday's news now. Suicide Squad is the test.
For Rocksteady, the stakes are equally high. The studio has spent nearly a decade in relative quiet, watching the industry evolve, watching other developers push action games in new directions. The Arkham series defined a generation of superhero games—the combat system became the template everyone else copied. But templates age. The question hanging over this release is whether Rocksteady can still make something that feels fresh, or whether it's simply retreading familiar ground with a different coat of paint.
Early reactions have been mixed. Preview coverage after the embargo lifted ranged from lukewarm to skeptical. But when the Closed Alpha test wrapped and the NDA came down, some players came forward to say they'd actually enjoyed what they played. That's the kind of signal that cuts through the noise—not the professional critics hedging their bets, but people who'd spent time with the game and wanted to defend it. It's not a ringing endorsement, but it's something.
The real test comes in two weeks. WB Games needs Suicide Squad to perform, not just to justify the investment in Rocksteady, but to establish momentum for the publisher heading into the rest of 2024. Rocksteady needs it to prove that a nine-year gap doesn't mean obsolescence. And players need it to be good—genuinely good—because the appetite for another superhero action game only goes so far. The trailer is polished and confident. Whether that confidence is earned will be known soon enough.
Notable Quotes
Early preview coverage was mixed to negative, but players who participated in the Closed Alpha test reported enjoying the experience after the embargo lifted.— Industry reception
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that Rocksteady hasn't released a game since 2015? Isn't that just how long development takes?
It's not just about time passing. The Arkham games defined how superhero combat should feel—they set the template. But nine years is an eternity in game design. The industry moved on. Other studios figured out what worked and what didn't. Rocksteady has to prove it didn't just get left behind.
The preview coverage was mixed to negative, but then some players who tried the alpha said they liked it. What explains that gap?
Critics are hedging. They're thinking about legacy, about expectations, about whether this fits what Rocksteady should be doing. Players who actually spent time with it were just asking: is this fun? Sometimes those are different questions.
WB Games had massive success last year with Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1. Why does Suicide Squad matter so much if those games are still selling?
Because 2024 needs its own wins. Last year's sales keep the lights on, but they don't prove the publisher can still execute at the highest level. Suicide Squad is the statement about what WB Games can do right now.
The game is about killing corrupted Justice League members. That's a pretty specific premise. Does that feel like a natural fit for Rocksteady?
It's not what you'd expect from them, honestly. The Arkham universe is their home. But that's also why it's interesting—it's a risk. They could have made another Batman game. Instead they're asking players to do something darker, something that requires a different kind of story to work.
What happens if the game underperforms?
For WB Games, it means a rough year ahead. For Rocksteady, it means the nine-year gap starts to feel like a real problem, not just a long development cycle. For players, it means waiting longer for the next thing that might actually matter.