The highly anticipated Batman: Arkham series developer Rocksteady’s most recent game hasn’t exactly been well received.
As members of the Suicide Squad—Haley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang—players assume the roles of these four formidable antagonists from the DC Comics world.
Superman, the Flash, and Batman are among the Justice League superheroes that they aim to eliminate.
Major gaming site IGN, which published one of the game’s early previews that received negative reviews, announced that it had been denied a review copy.
It wasn’t the only one; on Tuesday, when the online game’s servers were turned on, the majority of journalists only received codes.
Streamers and websites typically get preview copies far sooner so they have time to write in-depth reviews.
It should be noted, however, that IGN itself made clear that publisher Warner Bros Games was not required to provide it with a complimentary copy.
However, Victoria Phillips Kennedy, an employee of the UK-based gaming website Eurogamer, remarks, “I do feel it’s a slightly unusual response.”
“Lukewarm” previews, she says BBC Newsbeat, “may have influenced their decision to hold off on review code.”
However, Victoria notes that the teasers weren’t all that bad, including IGN’s “We Played it and Didn’t Like It” one. They were just not very good.
“There were a lot of people saying that there was an OK game there but it wasn’t going to shake the industry,” she recalls.
“This is not the reaction Rocksteady wanted.”
WB Games was contacted by BBC Newsbeat to respond to allegations that it withheld review codes in reaction to unfavorable previews.
