Rocksteady Studios co-founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker will leave the studio (open in new tab) at the end of 2022, just months before the release of their next film, "Suicide Squad" (open in new tab): Kill The Justice League" (opens in new tab) a few months before its release. Announcing their departure, David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive, called them "great leaders of the team."

"Visiting Rocksteady Studios has always been a highlight for me personally, with their attention to detail, the energy of their people, and the feeling of being in a high-performance studio. They are committed to the highest quality and excellence in every aspect of game development, while at the same time ensuring an excellent culture that values their employees."

Hill and Walker said their decision to leave Rocksteady was "emotional to say the least" and that "this studio has been our life and soul" since its inception in 2004. Rocksteady gave us the opportunity to do what we love most: make great games with very talented people." I'm very proud of this team that we've all worked with, from our first game, 'Urban Chaos,' to the much-loved 'Arkham' series, and now this big game, 'Suicide Squad.'"

"Suicide Squad is in safe hands and the team here is stronger than ever.

Rocksteady production director Nathan Burlow will become studio director and Darius Sadeghian will become studio product director; according to Haddad, Burlow and Sadeghian are "extremely talented very talented executives and passionate about continuing high quality game development at Rocksteady for "Suicide Squad: Bring Down the Justice League" and for all future games. " he said.

Despite the upbeat tone of the announcement, the timing of the pair's departure has caused concern among some Rocksteady fans: the 2022 merger with Discovery (open in new tab) has left WBIE in disarray, at least one Warner-owned game studio has been sold, and many TV shows and movies have been canceled.

"Suicide Squad" was originally scheduled to be released this year, so it is possible that the decision to cancel the film was made before the postponement, but that happened in March, and there was no mention of a major change at the top until now. At this point in development, there seems to be nothing left to do but polish the game, and in any case, Hill and Walker would have no more creative work left to do. However, just to look good, Warner would probably want the two to stay on at least until the game is released.

Not surprisingly, some fans saw the impending departure as bad news for "Suicide Squad" and for Rocksteady as a whole:

Although a release date for "Suicide Squad: Take Down the Justice League" has not yet been set, expects it to appear in the spring of 2023.