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Rocksteady Studios

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Rocksteady Studios Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded13 December 2004; 20 years ago (2004-12-13)
Founders
  • Jamie Walker
  • Sefton Hill
Headquarters
London
,
England
Products
Number of employees
258[1] (2023)
ParentWarner Bros. Games (2010–present)
Websiterocksteadyltd.com

Rocksteady Studios Limited is a British video game developer based in London. Founded on 13 December 2004, the studio is best known for its work in the Batman: Arkham series. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games.

History

[edit]

Rocksteady Studios was founded by Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill, the former creative director and head of production at Argonaut Games. The publisher SCi Entertainment with Argonaut Games on the game Roll Call until the developer shut down in late 2004.[2] Walker and Hill founded Rocksteady on 13 December 2004.[3] In January 2005, SCi announced that it had assigned Roll Call to the nacent studio, which by that time employeed 20 people, mostly former Argonaut Games staff, at its North London offices. The publisher acquired 25.1% of Rocksteady's shares and loaned the studio £250,000.[2][4] Roll Call was soon renamed Zero Tolerance: City Under Fire and then Urban Chaos: Riot Response.[5][6] It was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.[7]

After SCi (since renamed Eidos) obtained the rights to make a Batman game in spring 2007, they approached Rocksteady who presented their take on the Batman licence, and by May 2007, they had begun developing the concept of Batman: Arkham Asylum, with full production beginning in September 2007.[8][9] The game's commercial and critical success led publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) to acquire an undisclosed majority stake in Rocksteady in February 2010. The Warner Bros. group of companies also included DC Comics, the Batman licensor.[10][11] Eidos retained its 25.1% stake and representation on the board of directors.[10][12] Rocksteady followed up Arkham Asylum with Batman: Arkham City in 2011 and Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015, both of which received critical acclaim. The studio also experimented with virtual reality in 2016, releasing the spin-off game Batman: Arkham VR for the PlayStation VR. In the same year, Rocksteady started working on a multiplayer puzzle-solving game codenamed Stones. This title was soon shelved as Warner Bros. directed the studio to make a multiplayer title based on the Suicide Squad from DC Comics.[13][14]

In August 2020, Rocksteady announced their next game titled Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.[15] The game had been in production at Rocksteady since 2017, who were taking over development following the cancellation of the previous iteration at WB Games Montréal in late 2016. Over the course of development of seven years, the studio struggled to get the game off the ground, having very little experience in its genre, which resulted in several postponements.[14] A Suicide Squad game had been teased at the end of Batman: Arkham Origins (developed by WB Games Montreal), and in the years since Batman: Arkham Knight was released, Rocksteady had been rumoured to be working on a Suicide Squad game. The Suicide Squad game is set five years after the events of Arkham Knight, and was released in February 2024.[16]

The Guardian reported in August 2020 that the studio had failed to address issues related to sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour that more than half of the female employees had written to the studios executives about in a November 2018 letter. Such actions had included "slurs regarding the transgendered community", "discussing a woman in a derogatory or sexual manner with other colleagues", and sexual harassment "in the form of unwanted advances, leering at parts of a woman’s body, and inappropriate comments in the office".[17] Rocksteady said to The Guardian, "In 2018 we received a letter from some of our female employees expressing concerns they had at that time, and we immediately took firm measures to address the matters that were raised. Over the subsequent two years we have carefully listened to and learned from our employees, working to ensure every person on the team feels supported. In 2020 we are more passionate than ever to continue to develop our inclusive culture, and we are determined to stand up for all of our staff."[17] The following day, Rocksteady posted on social media what they claimed to be an "unsolicited" letter written by some of the employees who had signed the 2018 letter, disputing the claims reported in The Guardian.[18]

At the end of 2022, co-founders Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill left Rocksteady after more than 18 years at the company and during the development of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. They formed a new company called Hundred Star Studios in January 2024 that will consist of “only 100 industry veterans and emerging talents.”[19] Nathan Burlow and Darius Sadeghian were promoted to replace them.[20]

Rocksteady will continue to support Kill the Justice League through the game's first year and is also assisting in the development of a director's cut for Hogwarts Legacy. However, Warner Bros. Games declined to comment on the future of the game or the studio.[21] In May 2024, the company disclosed that the game incured a loss of approximately $200 million.[22] In September 2024, anonymous employees told Eurogamer that Rocksteady's QA team had experienced a layoff, reducing the team's headcount by half, as a result of the game's poor sales.[23] The studio suffered another layoff before the year's end, this time to the programming and artist teams, as well as more QA staff.[24]

Games developed

[edit]
Year Title Platform(s)
2006 Urban Chaos: Riot Response PlayStation 2, Xbox
2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One[a]
2011 Batman: Arkham City macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One [a][b]
2015 Batman: Arkham Knight Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[c]
2016 Batman: Arkham VR Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4
2024 Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S

Notes

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  1. ^ a b PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions released as part of Batman: Return to Arkham; Nintendo Switch version released as part of Batman: Arkham Trilogy.
  2. ^ Wii U version released as Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition.
  3. ^ Nintendo Switch version released as part of Batman: Arkham Trilogy.

References

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  1. ^ "Accounts". gov.uk. 2023. p. 4. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b Fahey, Rob (17 January 2005). "Roll Call back on track as SCi funds new development studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  3. ^ Prell, Sam (22 November 2014). "Three years later, Calendar Man reveals Arkham City easter egg". Engadget. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  4. ^ Brunes, Andrew (17 January 2005). "SCi Invests In Ex-Argonaut Start-Up". IGN. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  5. ^ Surette, Tim (31 October 2005). "Eidos has Zero Tolerance for consoles". GameSpot. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  6. ^ Adams, David (6 February 2006). "Zero Tolerance Reborn as Urban Chaos". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  7. ^ Virtue, Graeme (21 June 2015). "Urban Chaos: Riot Response was Rocksteady's pre-Batman crime crackdown". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  8. ^ Snider, Mike (25 August 2009). "The rest of the story: 'Batman: Arkham Asylum'". USA Today. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  9. ^ Graft, Kris (19 October 2009). "Rocksteady's Sefton Hill Unmasks Batman: Arkham Asylum". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  10. ^ a b Plunkett, Luke (23 February 2010). "Warner Buys Batman: Arkham Asylum Devs". Kotaku.
  11. ^ Martin, Matt (23 February 2010). "Warner acquires majority stake in Rocksteady Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  12. ^ Crossley, Rob (23 February 2010). "Eidos retains 25% stake in Rocksteady". Develop. Archived from the original on 26 February 2010.
  13. ^ Schreier, Jason (6 June 2024). "Behind 'Suicide Squad,' the Year's Biggest Video-Game Flop". Bloomberg.
  14. ^ a b Schreier, Jason (12 January 2024). "New 'Suicide Squad' Video Game Faces a Tough Road". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  15. ^ Good, Owen S. (7 August 2020). "Suicide Squad game in the works from Batman Arkham maker Rocksteady". Polygon.
  16. ^ Rocksteady Announces Suicide Squad Game - IGN, 7 August 2020, retrieved 7 August 2020
  17. ^ a b Hern, Alex (18 August 2020). "Games firm Rocksteady accused of inaction over staff harassment". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  18. ^ Andy Chalk (19 August 2020). "Rocksteady shares employee letter defending its response to 2018 abuse allegations". PC Gamer. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  19. ^ McWhertor, Michael (17 January 2024). "Rocksteady founders have a new, post-Suicide Squad studio". Polygon. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  20. ^ Schreier, Jason (6 June 2024). "Behind 'Suicide Squad,' the Year's Biggest Video-Game Flop". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  21. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (10 June 2024). "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Will Complete Its Currently Announced Roadmap, but Warner Bros. Quiet on What Happens After". IGN. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  22. ^ Schreier, Jason (6 June 2024). "Behind 'Suicide Squad,' the Year's Biggest Video-Game Flop". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  23. ^ Phillips, Tom (2 September 2024). "Rocksteady hit by layoffs after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperforms". Eurogamer.net.
  24. ^ Phillips, Tom (7 January 2025). "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League developer Rocksteady hit by end-of-year layoffs". Eurogamer.
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