London-based game developer Rocksteady has suffered layoffs, according to a report recently published by Eurogamer. The bulk of the layoffs reportedly occurred in the studio’s Quality Assurance department, which saw its staff cut by nearly half, from 33 to 15. Additionally, at least one non-Quality Assurance member of the studio publicly revealed on social media that he was laid off while on paternity leave.

Rocksteady sources cited by Eurogamer acknowledge that this round of layoffs will inevitably hurt the quality of the game’s development, as well as burdening the remaining developers with more work.

The cause can easily be found in the failure of the studio’s most recent game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It took Rocksteady nine years to make Batman: Arkham Knight (eight if you count Batman: Arkham VR), and despite all that time, the final game was highly disappointing. At Wccftech, the game received a mediocre 5 out of 10 from Nathan Birch:

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has a hint of that classic Rocksteady charm, delivering polished visuals, fluid traversal and combat, and a few snappy one-liners, but the entire experience is bogged down by repetitive and dull mission design, hollow live service elements, and a poor story that’s so meek that it feels oddly resentful. Perhaps most damningly, not even the thing promised in the game’s title—fighting and dispatching the Justice League—ends up being particularly fun or memorable. Those who really want to see what happens to the Arkhamverse might not be able to resist picking this up, but I’d suggest waiting for a deep discount before subjecting yourself to this tedious team-up.

His performance was equally poor, causing Warner Bros. saw a 41% drop in year-over-year gaming revenues compared to the excellent February 2023 launch of Hogwarts Legacy, which would have become the best selling game of 2023Rocksteady attempted to improve Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League after release, but with little effect on its overall reception.

According to a previous rumor, a part of the studio is currently helping to make a Hogwarts Legacy Director’s Cut. The good news is that even after these layoffs, Rocksteady doesn’t appear to be in any real danger of being shut down, and there are rumors that it will return to doing what it does best: making Batman games.