Last year, WB Games Montreal worked on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a game following the titular team of anti-heroes. However, critics and gamers alike widely panned the game for its live-service features and poor design. Due to its poor sales, the developer became the latest of many to be hit with a huge wave of layoffs.
With the rest of Warner Bros facing many commercial struggles, this studio’s downfall has been caught in the crossfire. Here is a breakdown of WB Games Montreal’s layoffs.
WB Games Montreal’s Layoffs
According to GameRant, WB Games Montreal has become the latest game studio to lay off a huge workforce. This time around, about 99 employees were laid off. Most of those within their ranks were from the quality control department for their recent game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. This news comes mere months after the larger developer of KTJL, Rocksteady Studios, became another victim of mass layoffs.
The game was a critical and commercial failure due to its repetitive gameplay and overuse of widely criticized live service elements. Therefore, its failure likely contributed to the corporate decision. The executives have not properly announced the change despite its magnitude. For reference, WB Games Montreal’s staff was around 350, meaning these layoffs were a particularly large blow that left the company’s future uncertain.
The Studio’s Work
WB Games Montreal is one of its parent company’s many subsidiaries worldwide. The team largely focused on creating games for Warner Bros’ DC Comics, such as Gotham Knights and Arkham Origins. While the latter was considered a solid entry in its series, many saw Gotham Knights as a weak Batman game. While not a universally acclaimed studio, seeing so many employees lost is still disappointing.
As a franchise, the Suicide Squad has seen many ups and downs. While their first film in the DC Extended Universe was one of the series’ most ridiculed films, James Gunn’s sequel was widely regarded as one of their best. However, their anime adaptation, Suicide Squad Isekai, got largely mediocre reviews. Kill the Justice League’s failure was another entry in this history. The fact that two studios could suffer from the game’s failure shows how much of a blunder it was.
The Layoff’s Scale
This massive layoff was just a drop in the bucket for those following the news. Since last year, hundreds of developers, AAA and indie alike, have faced massive layoffs totaling tens of thousands of workers. Generally, these were due to the enormous boost in sales from the 2020 lockdowns and the impulsive investments on the part of shareholders.
Beyond WB Games Montreal, the media giant Warner Brothers has faced several struggles. Many have criticized their handling of Cartoon Network, the DC Extended Universe, and the shelving of completed films like Batgirl and Coyote Vs. Acme. Their streaming service, MAX, has seen a huge section of its library slashed. Many of these blunders were blamed on its current CEO, David Zaslav, who was widely criticized.
Warner Bros. has also established itself as a gaming giant. In addition to their IPs, such as Harry Potter, DC, and Lord of the Rings, they own the nostalgic LEGO games and the Mortal Kombat franchise. Once again, seeing a titan like this one fall to the layoffs shows how all-encompassing their effect is on the entire industry.
Conclusion
While massive layoffs are hardly news nowadays in gaming, this particular story is part of a much larger development within Warner Bros. The poor sales and reception of Kill the Justice League had a massive hand in this choice, as it did with its collaborator Rocksteady Games.
With so many studios going under rapidly, the entire video game industry could face an uncertain future. Despite this, there is still a chance future developers will remember why their previous game failed and learn from its mistakes.
