Leadership’s vision of the gameplay also reportedly changed from melee to more gun-focused combat, confusing staff members.

It’s no secret that Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a disappointment, with Warner Bros. Discovery noting how it contributed to a $200 million impact on revenue. Unsurprisingly, it seems the development was fraught with issues from the get-go, as revealed in a new report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.

Rocksteady was originally developing a prototype codenamed Stones, an original multiplayer puzzle-solving game after Batman: Arkham Knight. However, co-founders Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill told staff in 2016 that it would now work on Suicide Squad with hopes of launching by 2019 or 2020.

Despite no experience in the same, Rocksteady decided on an online live-service model for Suicide Squad (Warner Bros. enthusiasm for the same also helped). It would grow from about 160 to 250 employees over the years, a size described as “unwieldy for managers.”

Unfortunately, the project was kept secret from new hires, who expressed surprise at the multiplayer focus due to Rocksteady’s pedigree. Schreier notes that “Many would depart as a result,” which sounds almost exactly like what happened with Arkane Austin’s Redfall.

It also seems that the gameplay vision “kept morphing,” going from melee combat to more gun-focused action. If you ever wondered why Captain Boomerang suddenly embraced using a gun instead of, well, boomerangs, some staff reportedly thought the same.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Despite low player counts, it continues to receive updates, with Season of the Joker – Episode 2: Duality going live two weeks ago.