Suicide Squad reportedly delayed, potentially even to 2024

thesixthaxis.com:

Multiple reports have emerged to suggest that Rocksteady’s co-op superhero game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could be getting delayed from its May 2023 release date.

Per Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier this will see the game pushed back to the second half of 2023, with Warner Bros. giving Rocksteady more time to polish, optimise and squash bugs. However, Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb has said in the Game Mess Decides podcast that his sources suggest it could even be pushed all the way back to 2024.

The news is coming just a couple weeks after Suicide Squad was heavily featured in a PlayStation State of Play stream, finally showcasing and explaining a lot of the game’s systems and gameplay in detail, and it could be that the public reaction to that showcase has spooked Warner Bros. executives.

In particular, it seems clear that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League leans in on various online action RPG systems, such as having cumulative gear scores, incremental character improvements, a battle pass, and other elements similar to games like Destiny 2 or the ill-fated Marvel’s Avengers. Beyond that, there’s been critique over some homogeneity between the four playable characters, all of whom use a variety of guns for ranged combat (even if their trademark weapons are boomerangs) and have similar abilities to let them quickly traverse the open world.

If that is the underlying reason for Warner Bros. to delay the game, and that it’s not simply another month or two to polish the game, you do have to wonder what they hope can happen in that time to address those complaints. Needing the DLC and battle pass to meet internal sales and revenue projections won’t change – and more development time means the cost only increases –