Why Reviewers Not Having Codes for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League May Not Be the Worst Thing

Rocksteady is getting to ready to release their new DC title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League this week. Their first title since 2015's Batman: Arkham Knight. At the end of last week, chatter was circling that reviewers at major outlets as well as prominent gaming YouTubers didn't have a courtesy review copy of the game to get a jump on the review process. A lot of the sentiment from the gaming outlets and YouTubers is trying to explain to their audiences why their coverage will be delayed and the reason behind it. According to emails sent to these critics, Rocksteady is waiting till they turn the servers on for everyone on January 29 when early access goes live. This seemed to be met with a healthy amount of skepticism.
The skepticism comes from a place of experience. When codes aren't given out weeks in advance for review purposes that usually is a sign towards poor quality of the final product. However, in this case that may not be true. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had a private alpha test where players signed an NDA so they couldn't talk about their experience back in the fall. Earlier this month, the gaming press corps were invited to limited play sessions to get hands on with the game. Their reactions ranged from middle of the road to very negative. This prompted Rocksteady to void the NDA and encourage alpha players to share their experience which was more positive. This mixed bag of opinions from critics and fans, have many casual, everyday gamers questioning if the game is worth their time.

The answer for this may lie very simply in the past. A large majority of games press has not been excited about this game since its announcement back in August of 2020 at DC Fandome during the pandemic. Many wanted more Batman, play as another hero or heroes, or an original IP. Well that just isn't what will be releasing in a matter of days. So what benefit does Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive get from giving a press corps that has been outspoken against the game's core story. The minority of press that has remained optimistic has done so, due to Rocksteady's pedigree from the Arkham trilogy. The press corps won't really be able to overcome their bias either way. That leaves Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive with really only one option. 

Put the game in fans hands. Give the game a chance to create a community day one, and try to snowball success from positive interactions and social media clips from players who will stick around. A core community will keep this game successful and in the news for its lifecycle. With content drops planned through the end of the year, Rocksteady at some level believes this game will have legs and wants to reward players by investing in the game's ecosystem for the near future.

Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive are putting all their chips on, turning the game over to the players who want to play it. They believe those players will create the hype necessary for the game to be a success. If it works, their gamble will be another in a long line of success story in the past decades of games overcoming poor launches/press cycles and turning a profit. If it doesn't they will join the longer list of games, of disappointments that players won't let them live down. The verdict will not just be in the first week of sales, but the weeks and months that follow. Stay tuned to read what I think about the game when I get my hands on it next Friday. (I will not be paying 30 extra dollars for early access, too broke for that silly trend)