Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League tops UK boxed charts, but its peak of just 13k CCU raises concerns
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had a strong commercial debut, but mixed reviews and its player count on Steam raise questions about the game’s long-term success. And players may also be wondering what the future holds for Rocksteady Studios.
Launched globally on February 2, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League received mixed reviews, with an average Metascore ranging from 62 (PS5) to 70 (PC). The main criticism was aimed at its repetitiveness and live service elements.
The game currently has a very low user score at just 3.8/10, with some players calling Suicide Squad “disrespectful” to the Arkham series.
Despite some harsh reviews online, the title debuted at #1 on GfK’s UK Boxed Charts, selling more physical copies in the country than Persona 3 Reload, another new release of the past week. GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring noted that Suicide Squad’s physical launch was “slightly behind Tekken 8 but ahead of The Last of Us 2 Remastered.”
Below are GfK’s top 10 best-selling physical games in the UK:
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
- Persona 3 Reload
- Tekken 8
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- EA Sports FC 24
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
- Grand Theft Auto V
Player reception on other platforms was way more positive. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League currently has an 85% rating on Steam based on 2,594 reviews. Many users called the gameplay fun, especially in the co-op mode, but noted that it is better to wait for discounts.
When it comes to player count, the launch turned out to be mediocre, to put it mildly. According to SteamDB, the game peaked at only 13,459 concurrent players. This is lower than the all-time highs of Batman: Arkham Knight (27.4k CCU) and Batman: Arkham Origins (25k CCU).
Of course, the number of concurrent players doesn’t equal sales, but this metric is especially important for live service titles aimed at long-term support. For example, Marvel’s Avengers peaked at over 31k CCU on Steam at launch, but quickly lost most of its active players and ended up being shut down by Crystal Dynamics. So it is interesting to see how many users Kill the Justice League will be able to retain.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is now one of the worst Steam launches for publisher Warner Bros. in terms of peak CCU. It is behind the likes of Gotham Knights (24.1k CCU), Mad Max (33.3k CCU), Mortal Kombat 1 (38.1k CCU), and Middle-earth: Shadow of War (68.1k CCU), not to mention last year’s blockbuster Hogwarts Legacy (879k CCU).
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s player count compared to other DC games published by Warner Bros. (via SteamDB)
The 13.4k peak makes Rocksteady’s new title the 8th new release of 2024 by that metric, which is quite low for a premium AAA game made by an experienced studio and based on a world-famous IP:
- Palworld — 2.1 million CCU;
- Enshrouded — 160.4k CCU;
- Granblue Fantasy: Relink — 114k CCU;
- Tekken 8 — 49.9k CCU;
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth — 46.1k CCU.
- Persona 3 Reload — 45k CCU;
- Gu Long Fengyun Lu (古龙风云录) — 15.4k CCU;
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — 13.4k CCU;
- Summoners War (PC release) — 12.7k CCU;
- Winter Memories — 12.4k CCU.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is Rocksteady’s first game in nine years since the release of Batman: Arkham Knights. There were many troubled signs during development, including the departure of the studio’s co-founders, Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker, who left the company just a few months before the title’s launch.
Just like in the case with many live service projects, Warner Bros. plans to support Suicide Squad with new content for years to come. But Rocksteady, as a renowned developer once beloved by millions of players around the world, could be at risk and even face layoffs if the game fails to meet the parent company’s expectations in terms of long-term revenue.
