 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 13 December 2004; 20 years ago (2004-12-13) |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , England |
| Products |
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Number of employees | 214 (2024) |
| Parent | Warner Bros. Games (2010–present) |
| Website | rocksteadyltd |
Rocksteady Studios Limited is a Britishvideo game developer based in London. Founded on 13 December 2004, the studio is best known for its work in theBatman: Arkham series. The company is a subsidiary ofWarner Bros. Games.
Rocksteady Studios was founded by Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill, the formercreative director and head of production atArgonaut Games. The publisherSCi Entertainment worked with Argonaut Games on the gameRoll Call until the developer shut down in late 2004.[1] Walker and Hill founded Rocksteady on 13 December 2004.[2] In January 2005, SCi announced that it had assignedRoll Call to the nascent studio, which by that time employeed 20 people, mostly former Argonaut Games staff, at itsNorth London offices. The publisher acquired 25.1% of Rocksteady's shares and loaned the studio£250,000.[1][3]Roll Call was soon renamedZero Tolerance: City Under Fire and thenUrban Chaos: Riot Response.[4][5] It was released in 2006 for thePlayStation 2 andXbox.[6]
After SCi (since renamed Eidos) obtained the rights to make aBatman game in spring 2007, they approached Rocksteady who presented their take on theBatman licence, and by May 2007, they had begun developing the concept ofBatman: Arkham Asylum, with full production beginning in September 2007.[7][8] The game's commercial and critical success led publisherWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) to acquire an undisclosed majority stake in Rocksteady in February 2010. TheWarner Bros. group of companies also includedDC Comics, theBatman licensor.[9][10] Eidos retained its 25.1% stake and representation on theboard of directors.[9][11] Rocksteady followed upArkham Asylum withBatman: Arkham City in 2011 andBatman: Arkham Knight in 2015, both of which received critical acclaim. The studio also experimented withvirtual reality in 2016, releasing the spin-off gameBatman: Arkham VR for thePlayStation VR. In the same year, Rocksteady started working on a multiplayer puzzle-solving game codenamedStones. This title was soon shelved as Warner Bros. directed the studio to make a multiplayer title based on theSuicide Squad from DC Comics.[12][13]
In August 2020, Rocksteady announced their next game titledSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.[14] The game had been in production at Rocksteady since 2017, who were taking over development following the cancellation of the previous iteration atWB 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.[13] ASuicide Squad game had been teased at the end ofBatman: Arkham Origins (developed byWB Games Montreal), and in the years sinceBatman: Arkham Knight was released, Rocksteady had been rumoured to be working on aSuicide Squad game. TheSuicide Squad game is set five years after the events ofArkham Knight, and was released in February 2024.[15]
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".[16] Rocksteady said toThe 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."[16] 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 inThe Guardian.[17]
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 ofSuicide 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.”[18] Nathan Burlow and Darius Sadeghian were promoted to replace them.[19]
Since 2024, Rocksteady launched and supportedSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for a year and was also assisting in the development of a director's cut forHogwarts Legacy (which was later cancelled).[20] In May 2024, Warner Bros. disclosed that the former game incurred a loss of approximately$200 million.[21] In September, 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.[22] The studio suffered another layoff before the year's end, this time to the programming and artist teams, as well as more QA staff.[23] By the end of 2024, Rocksteady had 214 employees.[24]
| 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/S |
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