Warner Bros. Games Doubles Down on Live-Service Titles—Even After Suicide Squad Flopped
Warner Bros. Games isn’t letting a little thing like a high-profile failure stop its live-service ambitions. Fresh off the disastrous launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the publisher is reportedly eyeing another always-online cash grab—because why learn from mistakes when you can repeat them?
The sunk-cost fallacy, now with microtransactions
Insiders claim execs are pushing ahead with plans for another live-service title, undeterred by Suicide Squad’s player count cratering faster than a shitcoin in a bear market. The strategy? Throw more development dollars at the wall and hope something sticks.
When in doubt, monetize harder
This comes as Warner Bros. Discovery’s gaming division bleeds talent and credibility—but hey, those quarterly earnings won’t manipulate themselves. Because nothing says ‘player engagement’ like forcing always-online requirements into single-player franchises.
One thing’s certain: shareholders will love the recurring revenue potential. Gamers? Not so much.
Warner Bros. Games doubles down on live service games
The Suicide Squad game was a big flop for WB Games last year, causing the publisher an approximate $200 million loss. The game received its final update early this year following mass layoffs, which impacted the developer. MultiVersus and Mortal Kombat 1 added to WB Games’ list of failures this year, but that hasn’t appeared to stop the publisher from working on live service games.
J.B. Perrette, WB. Discovery CEO and President of Streaming and Games revealed the company’s strategy during the Morgan Stanley event last year. He acknowledged the success of Hogwarts Legacy, which was named the best-selling single-player game in the U.S. last year. He added that the business of AAA console game releases can be challenging sometimes.
WB Games has now restructured into four divisions dedicated to its franchises and hopes to remake Hogwarts Legacy as a live-service game. Gamers can now speculate on which license WB Games Montreal will use on the upcoming project, with a few specifics mentioned by the publisher.
The Hogwarts publisher worked on the Gotham Knights game, which is not a live-service game but a major flop. A series of failures on multiple projects resulted in mass layoffs in December last year, which saw 99 developers lose their jobs from the studio.
Warner Bros. Games’ upcoming project receives criticism amid restructuring
James Gunn, Co-chairman and Co-CEO of DC Studios, confirmed in February that he’d been in talks with Rocksteady and NetherRealm to develop new games in the DC universe. However, it’s unclear if WB Games Montreal is also working on a DC game.
The June restructuring in leadership of WB Games focused on its biggest franchises, including Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones.
WB Games’ revenue dropped by 41% last year due to a series of failures, mainly the Suicide Squad’s underperformance. The publisher eventually cancelled Monolith’s Wonder Woman game earlier this year. Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego were all announced for closure following a strategic change in leadership direction.
Some gamers believe the new game might be a DC version of Marvel Rivals. Others mentioned that it WOULD face competition from NetEase’s hit hero shooter and Overwatch 2, which have already taken up the market. However, these ideas seem unlikely since the job listing said the game will be based on its iconic IPs.
According to some gamers, the DC Live Service may consider a Superman idea following the popularity of the James Gunn movie. The Batman franchise didn’t do well in live service, and the Wonder Woman game was scrapped. The bigger question among gamers remains why Warner Bros Games is going back to live service games after the past few costly failures.
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