A week after Warner Bros. admitted that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failed to meet expectations, the game’s player count seems to have dropped to concerning levels. On Steam, Suicide Squad’s concurrent players are peaking at a few hundred only, and it seems that things aren’t any better on consoles.

Suicide Squad player count doesn’t bode well for its future

As noted by Forbes’ Paul Tassi, less than a month after its release, Suicide Squad saw just 593 concurrent players on Steam a day ago, with the number dropping as low as 287. This is alarming for a live service game that needs a robust player count to justify the cost of keeping servers online.

PlayStation and Xbox do not have a system for revealing concurrent player counts, but Tassi noted that he hasn’t seen Suicide Squad anywhere in Xbox’s top 50 for the past week at least — not a good sign for a game that only just released.

Suicide Squad launched to mostly negative reviews, with its PS5 version settling for 60/100 on Metacritic. Warner Bros. revealed in a recent financial earnings call that the $70 game has “fallen short of our expectations,” resulting in its games business seeing a “tough year-over-year comp in Q1.”

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s Deluxe Edition owners have been gifted $20 worth of in-game currency as an apology for the game’s early access server woes. The expensive Deluxe Edition came with the promise of letting owners play early, only for servers to be taken down twice.

Suicide Squad’s server woes make a strong case for offline support

Even before it released, Suicide Squad came under fire for being an always-online game, with developer Rocksteady Studios scrambling to assuage concerns. Players’ fears certainly weren’t unfounded.

Early access players ran into a bizarre bug that auto-completed the game for them after they logged on, due to which Rocksteady Studios temporarily pulled the plug on servers. Suicide Squad went offline again for a period of maintenance. Now, Deluxe Edition owners are getting 2,000 LuthorCoins as an apology.

“Thank you for being one of our first console players during early access of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” reads a message in the in-game mailbox. “We recognize that you’ve been patient with us during our initial launch server updates and we’d like to show our appreciation for your patience with a special gift of 2, 000 LuthorCoins. Thank you again!”

2,000 LuthorCoins costly roughly $20.

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The Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League servers are back online following a fix for a game-breaking bug discovered during the early access period. Several players were logging into the game to find they had full story completion before they’d even set foot in Metropolis, and the servers were taken down until a fix was found.

The Suicide Squad game completion bug affected player profiles

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League entered early access yesterday, January 29, but several players were hit with a bug where they had full story completion when logging into the game for the first time.

Developer Rocksteady Studios took down the game’s servers as they searched for a cause for the bug before deciding it was caused by an issue with player profiles. A fix was deployed and the game’s servers were after downtime of approximately six hours.

Since then, the game has been taken offline again today for scheduled maintenance. Now that the maintenance has been completed, the game is back online once again although some problems still persist. Several players are missing preorder and Deluxe edition skins. Still, at least PS5 players can make use of the early access period; those who purchased the game on PC are unable to play until February 2 despite Deluxe Edition owners initially being promised the same 72-hour early access period.

The game’s issues have only fueled players’ concerns about the game’s always-online requirements. Rocksteady has said it is working on an offline mode that will allow players to experience Suicide Squad’s main campaign without needing an internet connection, but it seems like the game’s “huge” endgame modes won’t be available offline. This update won’t be arriving until after launch and is currently scheduled to arrive at some point this year. More details are promised “when available.”

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The list of new PS5 and PS4 games due to be released during the week beginning January 29, 2024, continues the hard-hitting releases with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League being the highlight of the week. Those not into superhero action can look forward to a range of titles that also include Persona 3 Reload.

All PS5 and PS4 January 29 to February 4, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of January 29 to February 4, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Brotato (January 30)
• Dark Light (January 30)
• Rugby 24 (January 30)
• Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story (January 31)
• Turret Rampage (January 31)
• Granblue Fantasy: Relink (February 1)
• Knights of Braveland (February 1)
• The Jumping Alphabet Soup (February 2)
• Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash (February 2)
• Persona 3 Reload (February 2)
• Rock ‘N Racing Off Road & Grand Prix (February 2)
• Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (February 2)

PS4 Games

• Brotato (January 30)
• Dark Light (January 30)
• Gearhead Karting Simulator (January 30)
• Rugby 24 (January 30)
• Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story (January 31)
• Turret Rampage (January 31)
• Granblue Fantasy: Relink (February 1)
• Piggy Gambit (February 1)
• Burnout Chaos: Drift Car Project (February 2)
• The Jumping Alphabet Soup (February 2)
• Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash (February 2)
• Persona 3 Reload (February 2)

A total of 12 games are coming to both PS5 and PS4 this week, although the lists for the two consoles are slightly different. Only PS5 players will get to experience Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. Early access to the game began today for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition, although a bug with player profiles means the servers are currently offline.

Both consoles will get Persona 3 Reload at the end of the week. The remake of the game includes several new features and an overhaul of the massive Tartarus dungeon. Other highlights include the action RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Bandai Namco’s 2v2 brawler Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will support “hundreds” of build combinations across four characters at launch, according to game director Axel Rydby. Rocksteady Studios also pledged robust post-launch support, and teased a “huge” endgame.

Suicide Squad characters and customization designed around player choice and freedom

Over on Suicide Squad’s Discord, Rydby said that player choice and freedom is one of the game’s core philosophies, and the developers want players to “make each character your own.”

“At launch, we’re looking at hundreds of possible combinations and permutations for builds across our four characters, and this is something we’re adding A LOT to in post launch,” Rydby added. “We’re not supposed to talk about that today though, but I’m really excited for you all to see the cool stuff we’ve got cooking.”

Elsewhere on Discord, Rydby said that Suicide Squad comes with a “huge” endgame that encourages players to master their character. “Our core philosophy for endgame was, essentially, mastery,” he wrote. “Mastery of your character, traversal, talents, enemy types, mission mechanics and, of course, your choice of build.”

Separately in an interview with Play Magazine (issue 36), Rocksteady said that Suicide Squad is “easily” the studio’s “biggest game story-wise.” Following a delay, the title will release on February 2.

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At the start of the week, a plethora of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League story details appeared online, but now the leaker has admitted that some information was wrong. In a fairly lengthy apology, the leaker called his summary an “awful bastardized retelling” that he regrets writing following the backlash that it caused.

The Suicide Squad story details were labeled “blatantly misleading” by others

The backlash surrounding the Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League story spoilers, which we won’t be repeating here, started when renowned leaker Miller Ross labeled them as “blatantly misleading” and that “the conclusions one naturally draws from them are incorrect.” In the apology, the leaker confirmed the story spoilers were misleading due to the way he went about finding the information.

You can read the full apology on Reddit, although be aware that it still contains story spoilers. For those who don’t want to see those spoilers, the leaker confirmed his information was based on cutscenes from the game but these were incomplete or heard out of context. To make things worse, the leaker only skimmed them for his information. As such, “a lot of the details declared as fact were speculation on my part or me just trying to fill in gaps of my own knowledge.”

The leaker also said that the story spoilers did not include anything that happens during the post-game Season 0 content or any future DLC, especially as the game is set up to be a live-service title. He claims that some of that post-launch content “completely recontextualises the entire story of the game,” although whether that is true is now debatable. He concluded his apology with:

I’m sorry for completely mischaracterising the game’s story, it was not my intention to s*** on this game’s story as I love Arkham but that has certainly been the effect of this leak. If you read the leak, please disregard everything about it because while some of it is true, enough is wrong that it is just overall misinformation.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League developer Rocksteady Studios released the second episode of Suicide Squad Insider, an ongoing showcase of the game’s features. In addition to looking at the game’s RPG mechanics and customization options, developers spotlighted the Support Squad. This crew of DC characters will assist the game’s antiheroes in their quest to defeat Brainiac and his brainwashed Justice League.

Suicide Squad developer showcases Support Squad in new video

Among the upcoming Suicide Squad game’s support characters is The Penguin, who serves as the Squad’s gun-runner. He’ll allow players to both upgrade existing weapons and craft new ones. His guns come from in-universe manufacturers like Star Labs, AmerTek, and LexCorp, which have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, AmerTek weapons have large magazines, a high rate of fire, and high recoil. Meanwhile, LexCorp guns have very precise recoil and spread patterns. The Penguin can then craft custom weapons in each style.

Another member of the Support Squad is the mad scientist Gizmo, who designs the Squad’s vehicles. Meanwhile, Toy Man and Hack offer upgrades for the Squad’s gear and abilities, respectively. Hack will also let players listen in on the Justice League’s communications, showcasing how Brainiac’s control effects altered their personalities.

Poison Ivy is also returning, though not in the form players might expect. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League takes place after the Batman: Arkham games, in which Poison Ivy dies. Lex Luthor seems to have regrown her, though the current version of Ivy is still a child. Still, she can create biological toxins that apply elemental effects to the player’s weapons and grenades.

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WB Games has announced an upcoming alpha test for Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, registrations for which are open now. Registration doesn’t guarantee successful entry, but you can try your luck with a WB Games Account.

What’s Suicide Squad’s alpha test for?

Suicide Squad is a live service game, and Rocksteady‘s looking to test its online infrastructure. As part of the test, participants will have access to a small portion of the game’s campaign, but WB has warned that Suicide Squad is still in development so the slice that players will experience is not representative of the final product.

To prevent any PR disasters stemming from unsavory videos, WB Games has made the alpha test “extremely confidential” and open to a limited audience starting Thursday, November 30 at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET through Monday, December 4 at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET. Participants are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that prevents them from sharing or streaming screenshots, videos, and early impressions in any form. Participants are also barred from speaking to the media or content creators about Suicide Squad’s alpha test content.

WB Games has gone a step further to add watermarks with unique identifiers to catch violators.

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Rocksteady Studios released a brand new deep dive video into its upcoming game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, showing off some of the gameplay and emphasizing a focus on the story of the game.

The new video was the inaugural release in what the developer says will be a series of “Insider” videos designed to help fans understand more about the upcoming game. This video was dedicated fully to gameplay and the overall story of the game, which Rocksteady says is the emphasis of the game.

The video recaps most of what fans know, that the Suicide Squad — Task Force X, as known by Amanda Waller — must stop the Justice League after they’ve been compromised by Brainiac. The story takes place in Metropolis, which Rocksteady says is twice the size of the Arkham City maps from its previous games.

Shortly after arriving in Metropolis, the group is captured by Green Lantern, who explains that Brainiac is transforming (or “enhancing”) the residents of Metropolis into alien-like monsters. From there, it’ll be up to the Suicide Squad to kill the Justice League and stop an alien takeover.

New footage breaks down traversal, gameplay

In the new footage, players also learn a bit about how Task Force X comes to get some of their abilities. In a brief tease of a cutscene, the group can be seen breaking into the Hall of Justice (which seems to function as a hub world of sorts) and stealing some gadgets.

This leads to Captain Boomerang wielding Doctor Sivana’s Speed Force Gauntlet and moving like The Flash, Harley using Batman’s grappling gun, and Deadshot flying around with a jetpack. According to Rocksteady, traversal is a huge aspect of the game, and something they focused heavily on while developing.

Rocksteady Studios also touched briefly on gameplay, showcasing some footage of King Shark smashing enemies or Captain Boomerang using explosives and other weapons to take down foes. The developer said that future installments of the “Insider” series will detail gameplay and the RPG systems found within the game more, though, so fans will have to wait to see more on that, as well as any information about the live-service aspects the game will feature.

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The Spider-Man 2 release date could have been one of the reasons behind the significant Suicide Squad delay announced yesterday, April 13. This speculation comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who not only revealed that Spider-Man 2 would apparently release in September 2023, but agreed that Suicide Squad may have been pushed out of the holiday season this year to avoid competing with other game releases.

There are likely many reasons for the Suicide Squad delay

Schreier responded to a fan who thought this extensive delay could have been due to a game with a November or December release date, given that February 2024 is a particularly interesting month for Suicide Squad to be pushed to. In a tweet, Schreier speculates that “Spider-Man 2 in September could be factor, too.”

As we reported yesterday, Rocksteady Studios delayed Suicide Squad nine months from its May 2023 release window to the new release date of February 2, 2024. The developer stated that this “tough but necessary decision” has been made in order to polish the game.

That said, it’s presumed that another reason for the delay is due to the relatively poor to mixed reactions to Suicide Squad, particularly during the PlayStation State of Play back in February this year. There’s even a rumor from Window Central’s Jaz Corden that Rocksteady is working to remove the always online component of the game.

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