Suicide Squad flopped due to perfectionism and ill-suited genre pivot - report

According to Bloomberg's report, the main reasons attributed to the failure of Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game were:

1. A culture of perfectionism that led to a constantly shifting vision for the game.
2. An ill-suited genre pivot from single-player games to an online multiplayer game with live-service content.
3. A constantly shifting vision for the game, including changes in gameplay mechanics and scrapped ideas.
4. A "toxic positivity" company culture, with management ignoring staff concerns and remaining convinced of the game's success despite red flags.

These factors, along with multiple delays and a $200 million loss for Warner Bros., contributed to the game's underwhelming performance and negative reception.

Rocksteady initially shifted from developing an original multiplayer puzzle-solving game to focusing on Suicide Squad due to a decision by the studio co-founders, Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill4. They believed that working on Suicide Squad presented a better opportunity than creating something entirely new from scratch. Their intention was for the game to be released in 2019 or 2020. However, as we now know, the development faced multiple delays. This shift in focus was also influenced by Warner Bros., which persuaded the studio to turn Suicide Squad into an online multiplayer game with live-service content, following the success of games like Destiny and League of Legends.