Overview
- In July 2026, former Suicide Squad leads Axel Rydby and Johnny Armstrong gave on‑record interviews saying the project left them burned out and drove both to leave Rocksteady.
- They say Warner Bros. executives shifted meetings away from creative design toward replayability metrics and ways to extract money from players, which Rydby described as ‘following a spreadsheet.’
- Repeated delays, the game’s large scope, and difficulty testing live‑service systems prevented the team from making deeper fixes during development, Armstrong said.
- Industry reporting ties the game’s poor launch to about $200 million in reported write‑offs for Warner Bros. Games and to subsequent layoffs and cancelled projects at related studios.
- The two developers have launched a modest Kickstarter for Secret of Circadia with an ~ $11,382 goal and an explicit anti‑generative‑AI stance as a return to small, passion‑driven work.