Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s Delay May Have Had a Secret Benefit

The delay of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could turn out to be a good thing for the game in the long run. The game’s reputation was already on shaky ground due to many factors, so a few more months in development could help to smooth things over. Of course, gameplay may not be the only thing on fans’ minds when they see Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Granted, a few of those details may be out of the developer’s control. Pushing the game back could potentially help it regain control of the narrative, though, and one big strength is that the delay puts some distance between Suicide Squad and a few other failed co-op superhero games.

Despite its original May release date, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was delayed until February 2024, adding several months to the development cycle before the full game sees the light of day. This delay followed a gameplay reveal that left many fans feeling dissatisfied, leaving the game’s future in doubt. It remains to be seen just how much of the game will be changed due to the increased development time, but it may take a lot to recover from its first impression. However, Cyberpunk 2077 is proof that a game can recover from an early disaster, so Suicide Squad: KTJL can’t be counted out yet.

RELATED: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Enemies Might Lack Arkham Charm in One Big Way

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has the difficult task of following Gotham Knights‘ largely frosty reception. Similar to Suicide Squad: KTJL, Gotham Knights had players controlling a group of DC characters on a quest. Unfortunately, Gotham Knights failed to impress many, so the next DC game to follow would already be marching into headwinds. The situation is even worse thanks to Marvel’s Avengers, another superhero live service game, similar to what Suicide Squad: KTJL had planned. Marvel’s Avengers failed to find any success and shut down in only two years, so debuting so soon after Marvel’s Avengers was not an enviable position for Suicide Squad: KTJL.

The delay may be lengthy, but it could be exactly what Suicide Squad needs to avoid Marvel’s Avengers‘ fate in the end. With two superhero games failing right before its release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was virtually guaranteed to release in a skeptical environment. However, pushing the game back to 2024 puts more distance between it and the previous failed titles. With more time separating the two, players may be less likely to assume the worst simply because Suicide Squad: KTJL is another superhero live-service game. That could wind up being enough to save the title from being the next failed superhero game.

Delaying the game does not mean that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is completely out of the woods; the many live-service closures of 2023 show that games in the genre need to be able to pick up a large player base quickly and maintain it in order to succeed. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will need to prove that it does have enough to offer in order to keep players coming back for more. Whether that would be new characters, new skins, of new missions remains to be seen. However, the lengthy delay could mean that some sort of new addition could be in the works.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s delay could have bailed it out of a bad situation, but It still needs to break recent Marvel and DC games’ bad habits in order to elevate itself. The extra development time can fix issues that were brought up following the gameplay reveal, and allow Rockstar to polish it into a more impressive state. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League still has the opportunity to surprise people and turn out to be a great game, and if it can do that, then the delay will have been worth it.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be released on February 2, 2024, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Might’ve Already Written Off One Potentially Playable Villain