After Suicide Squad's $200 million flop, Rocksteady's reportedly back to working on the Batman games that made it a household name

Batman Arkham
(Image credit: WB Games)

Rocksteady is reportedly making what it arguably should have been all along: another single-player game or, more specifically, another single-player Batman game.

The famed studio behind beloved superhero romps Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight has had a turbulent few years. Developers were seemingly stuck in development hell while working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for seven years, a live-service looter shooter that didn't play to the team's strengths, was mired in behind-the-scenes turmoil, and was ultimately too late to the trend to make much money. Publisher WB Games had attributed a $200 million loss to the game.

Bloomberg now reports that Rocksteady is pivoting back to what made it a household name in the first place, citing anonymous sources familiar with the studio's plans. Rocksteady is allegedly "looking to return" to single-player Batman, though the game is years away from launching right now. It's also unclear if the project will be a continuation of its existing Arkham universe or if it'll exist in a different canon. I imagine the events of Suicide Squad, which were weirdly reversed in a comic-strip-style post-launch ending, might make the latter a more attractive proposition. (Batman Beyond might be cool!)

The change in direction could be down to several factors. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced that head of WB Games David Haddad, who was in charge of the division throughout its live-service push, was exiting the company. Fellow online hopefuls, like Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions and soon-to-be-shutdown MultiVersus, also underperformed. In fact, one of the publisher's only purely single-player games in recent years came from Hogwarts Legacy, which has sold a whopping over 30 million copies so far.

Whatever Rocksteady's cooking up next won't have the involvement of studio founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker, who left late into Suicide Squad's development and quietly launched a new company called Hundred Star Games.

While we wait, don’t miss a single exciting release with our new games of 2025 and beyond release calendar.

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

Read more
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
More layoffs reportedly hit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League dev Rocksteady, including another cut to QA
A zoomed-in and brightened screenshot of Wonder Woman in the reveal trailer for the untitled Wonder Woman game.
Suicide Squad's $200 million failure was so damaging, it reportedly contributed to the cancellation of Monolith's Wonder Woman game
A brightened screenshot from the reveal trailer for the Monolith Productions Wonder Woman game.
3 years since reveal, open-world Wonder Woman game from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor devs reportedly $100 million in the hole and struggling with tech and leadership
Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ends on a whimper with a two-minute-long comic strip that renders the whole plot utterly pointless
Wonder Woman in the new game from Monolith and Warner Bros games
Wonder Woman game cancelation and everything we know about the superhero game
Harley pointing gun in Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League
After the success of Hogwarts Legacy and the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Warner Bros. gaming boss leaves after 12 years
Latest in Action Games
Former Xbox boss says GTA: San Andreas and its infamously NSFW Hot Coffee minigame "signified a maturing of the industry" and put games "on par with movies and music"
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
Death Stranding 2 pre-orders are estimated to go live this month, and will reportedly include a $230 collector's edition that I pray doesn't come with another creepy baby statue
Assassin's Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji expansion Naoe and Yasuke in Awaji forest
Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap, DLC and future content
Grand Theft Auto 3
A GTA streamer is trying to beat every single 3D entry without dying, and in 33 hours he's made it as far as San Andreas but keeps getting caught in Vice City purgatory
The Last of Us 2
Naughty Dog has done it: it's remastered the PS5 controller with a Last of Us-themed DualSense announcement 24 hours after Neil Druckmann dashed our hopes for The Last of Us 3
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows reverses roles to show off Naoe's combat and Yasuke's stealth, and I'm suddenly sold on playing Yasuke like a clumsy Snake in Metal Gear Solid 3
Latest in News
Batman and Catwoman talking
Robert Pattinson is hoping to team up with his The Batman co-star Zoe Kravitz on another project soon
Screenshot of Herdling, showing the weird yaks heading toward a sunset horizon.
With 18,000 glowing Steam reviews on their lovely debut game, this indie team's game about leading cute fantasy yaks up a mountain is instantly one to watch
Keanu Reeves and Brzrkr
Justin Lin to helm Keanu Reeves' comic book movie adaptation BRZRKR for Netflix
Vampire Survivors screenshot showing a character shooting beams of light at surrounding enemies
Before selling millions of copies, Vampire Survivors creator says he'd "given up on the idea of success," and he's not interested in making something just to be successful
Train to Busan passengers
Train to Busan director is returning to the horror sub-genre with a new movie described as the culmination of his zombie universe
Thomas Shelby on a horse
Although Netflix is making the Peaky Blinders movie, fans need not to worry as it will be released in theaters too