Just when you thought you’d heard it all, right? The tone-deafness and hypocrisy of business executives continue to surprise everyone in all the wrong ways. What’re we talkin’ ’bout? Well, in case you blink and miss the gaming world’s news, don’t worry. We’ll tell you why we’re confuzzled. You see, Mr. WB Games CEO, the head honcho himself, David Zaslav, in a message to investors, put all the blame for their latest live-service disaster of a game, Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League, on Rocksteady Studios.
Now, as you digest that bit, we’re gonna go ahead and call bullcrap on that. First, we’ll tell you how this is such a catastrophic failure on the leadership’s part at WB Games. Second, blaming it on Rocksteady is a pretty convenient and equally conniving escape route for Mr. Zaslav. We’ll get to it all and throw in some of our own analysis, too. So, let’s put on our tin foil hats and get going!
What Mental Gymnastics Did WB Games CEO David Zaslav Do To Avoid The Blame For Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League Failure?
So, this past week, in an earnings call, Mr. WB Games CEO David Zaslev, was showcasing his silver tongue prowess. Instead of owning his failure and accepting his executive leadership incompetence for the abysmal sales of Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League, he put Rocksteady Studios in the firing range of the investors. He said that the Rocksteady leadership made the call to make it a live-service game, not him. Well, ain’t that just peachy, and no, we don’t mean the song, ‘just peachy’ here.
A corporate suit shifting blame in front of the investors so conveniently just stinks. His words don’t make sense, either. Why? Because, by his own moronic admission, WB Games is all-in to embrace the live-service model. This is after reports of sales of Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League tanking spread like wildfire. It was so bad that the Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League got discounts on Amazon, too. So, in what world is Rocksteady supposed to be guilty when Mr. WB Games CEO David Zaslev is still lusting after live-service?
Yeah, no, this is just classic politicking by Mr. Zaslev to save his own hide from the wrath of investors. It isn’t any surprise why the founding members of Rocksteady Studios left before this game’s release window. They saw the trainwreck and disaster that Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League was gonna turn out to be. Frankly, we’re glad ’cause they took the high road to safeguard their legacy and credibility.
Related: 6 Games To Help You Get Over Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League.
Sadly, The Trend Chasing And Then Blaming Studios Is Going To Continue
We’re, unfortunately, living in a time where the executives hardly get held accountable. It’s only the talent and devs that suffer. Case in point: the recent Microsoft disaster and then more Xbox Game Studios shutdown plans. No one but the devs got the brunt of the fallout from executive leadership failure there, too. But, anyway, back to WB Games CEO Mr. David Zaslav. So, Mr. Bigshot thinks that he can call the shots but avoid whatever blowback comes his way.
Just think for a second about how the meeting with him goes down. WB leadership “insists” that a live-service game be made. The devs give different ideas, but the “insistence” on live-service is strong. Naturally, is there even a choice at that point? Now, there’re just two ways for Rocksteady leadership. Either they defy the “insistent request” of the CEO of WB Games, Mr. David Zaslav. Or, they cave and do his bidding to incorporate live-service in the design of their current game.
How do you see that scenario playing out? You either quit your job or do as you’re told in the corporate sector. Keep in mind that not every game dev is in the league of the legendary Japanese video game developers. So, they put their head down, get to work, and hope to high heaven the game turns out okay. Unfortunately, it did not. Now, that’s an undeniable fact that the game bombed, so what does Mr. CEO do? Blame the studio, even stating it was Rocksteady’s own choice to make Suidice Squad Kills The Justice League live-service. But is it really, though? We think not!
The CEO Of WB Games, Mr. David Zaslav, Is Experiments With Investors’ Money; Wake Up!
So! What’s the one thing WB Games CEO Mr. David Zaslav could have done to redeem himself after the colossal failure of Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League? The answer is so simple, you’d have to be blind to not see it. It was all right there in the blueprint, the perfect sequel to Arkham Knight, focusing on the Bat family’s escapades. Red Hood establishing himself as the vigilante with his own brand of justice.
But we’re just indulging our own fan-fic wish fulfillment headcanon fantasy here. ‘Cause the bright idea Mr. Leader had was to greenlight the mind-baffling and eye-brow-raising Arkham Shadow, a VR-exclusive game specifically locked to the Meta Quest 3. WHAT?!! We have some colorful choice of words for the moron who thinks this is a good idea. But this is where we are now. No AAA blockbuster Arkham games, no follow-up to the emotional finale of Arkham Knight, and definitely no worthy send-off for Kevin Conroy’s Batman.
This feels like a slap in the face and the ultimate form of disrespect for the fans of Arkham Batman. Getting a studio famous for and experienced with AAA action-adventure games to do live-service games is a failure of Mr. David Zaslav and no one else. It’s high time the investors woke up and got a dose of reality. It’s on their dime that Mr. Zaslev is lining up his pockets and setting up gaming studios for failure. To have these corporate trend chasers at the helm is a death sentence. We recommend some house cleaning and getting a CEO who understands gamers’ wants.
Final Thoughts
Welp, that’s our hot take and analysis of the utter failure and conniving blame shift by WB Games CEO David Zaslev. The man sure knows his craft ’bout sayin’ the right stuff and stirring the pot. If only he could use his brains to read what the audience wants. This corporate political two-timing and gaslighting by him should not go unwarranted. We sincerely hope the man gets held accountable for his shortcomings. Seriously, Arkham Batman deserves better. It is a beloved IP, and a cash cow for them to milk, but they don’t even have the sense of how to do even that. Truly a mystifying and revolting development, folks.
Anyway, we’re gonna take a hike now, but before we do, tell us your honest thoughts on this situation. We’re sick of it, frankly, to see hard-working devs take the fall for executive mishaps of the top brass. WB Games isn’t the only one to flop hard this year, Ubisoft is another gaming company that’s a trainwreck. Their 2024 release, Skull & Bones, is inferior to the decade-old Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. Make of that what you will. Alright, that’s gonna do it for now, but check back in real soon for more similar hottakes and gaming news. Until next time, take care, everyone, stay safe, and happy gaming!
