Players are furious as the highly anticipated game is taken offline just minutes after launch

THE highly anticipated game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched in early access today and things haven't been going smoothly.

The online co-op game set in the Batman universe had to be taken offline less than an hour after release after some players experienced a game-breaking bug.

The official release date of Suicide Squad has been announced February 2, 2024when everyone who bought the game should be able to play.

However, players who purchase the more expensive Deluxe Edition can enter up to 72 hours early.

The game launches for early access on consoles at midnight local time on January 30, 2024.

New Zealand was one of the first countries to get Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, as NZ Time is 12 hours ahead of Britain.

Thanks to the so-called “New Zealand time zone trick”, many Xbox console players from other areas were also able to get into the game earlier.

When Suicide Squad started rolling out, a number of players quickly noticed a game-breaking bug that automatically completed the game's story when they logged in for the first time.

Less than an hour after launch, developers Rocksteady acknowledged the problem in an post on Twitter/Xand took the game offline for maintenance.

The developers expect the downtime to last several hours, without mentioning a specific time when the game will be available again.

Players are advised to follow posts on the game's official Twitter/X account for more updates.

If the situation is resolved quickly, UK and US players may not notice the issue by the time Suicide Squad launches in their respective time zones.

The issue is especially frustrating for Deluxe Edition owners of the game, as they spent extra money to play sooner.

The Digital Deluxe Edition of Suicide Squad costs an additional £30/$30 on top of the base game's £70/$70 price tag.

Players in New Zealand and Australia who purchased the Deluxe Edition should have already played, so they are already missing out on an important benefit they paid for.

As early access rolls out in more time zones, more players will be affected if the issue isn't resolved soon.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches for consoles on January 30 at midnight local time.

PC gamers via Steam can start playing at 6pm UK time / 10am PT on the same date.

To learn more about the worrying trend of expensive premium editions, check out our look at how Deluxe Editions of games have doubled the price of gaming.

Written by Stoyan Ovcharov on behalf of GLHF.

All the latest gaming tips and tricks

Looking for tips and tricks for your favorite consoles and games? We've got you covered…