Warner Bros. has spoken freely about the volatile nature of AAA game development, making it known that they intend to stay the course of prioritising live-service, mobile, and free-to-play games in the future.
During a recent Morgan Stanley speaking event, Warner Bros. Discovery’s president of streaming and games J.B. Perrette made it clear that their focus has not shifted – even after the curious case of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s reception.
WB sees its future games strategy to involve more live-service, mobile, and free-to-play games.
— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) March 5, 2024
"Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live-service where people can live… pic.twitter.com/oLKmTDF4Jm
It’s curious to see such a shift in gears, considering that it was only a short throw back to 2022 when WB seemed to be pivoting away from what they could achieve as both a publisher and developer of games – surprising many with a quote from Perrette mentioning the potential they have being in such a position:
We’re doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities we have on the studio where we’re uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games.
However, the confidence offered by such a statement was short lived, because Perrette continued:
Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?
Yeowch. Hogwarts Legacy achieved sales milestones with millions of copies sold, yet the lesson that seemed to be taken away by the top brass is that it would have been …more successful as a live service treadmill? A factoid that is difficult to parse considering Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has come and gone with what seems to be a rock solid look at player apathy in the face of these kinds of titles.
Hogwarts Legacy was the first title in nearly a decade-and-a-half to top annual sales charts that wasn’t either a Call of Duty game or a Rockstar-published game (GTAV and RDR2), but WB still looking at making more money by shifting to “live-service” model. https://t.co/TvCvLcGoV2 pic.twitter.com/VE4gbAK01Q
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) March 5, 2024
These statements have left many players and observers both confused and concerned for the future of existing franchises still under the WB banner, with further comments mentioning that the business wants to focus more on their core IP’s – making mention of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, DC and Mortal Kombat. According to a late 2023 exclusive report by Insider Gaming, Warner Bros. is currently developing a live service Harry Potter game titled Quidditch Champions, so those live service plans are absolutely steaming ahead.
At least the upcoming Wonder Woman game is not live service. For now at least.
How do you feel about the boardroom decisions of the Warner Bros. leadership? If 22 million copies sold isn’t enough, what is? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Shout outs to Gamespot.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
