Warner Bros, in the field of video games, has had a rather bittersweet year. Although they have had some great successes, they have also had a series of resounding failures. This has led the company to think twice about what they will do with their developments from now on. Although the plans they have, and the results they have had so far, do not seem to fit at all.
At a conference organized by Morgan Stanley, Warner Bros’ CEO of streaming and gaming, JB Perrette, spoke about the future of the company’s gaming division. Stating that the console AAA market is very volatile, he says that from now on they will focus their efforts on creating games as a service, mobile games, and free-to-play games of well-known franchises. Seeking to create games that generate long-term revenue through aggressive monetization.
The interesting thing is that, to highlight the volatility of the AAA console market, it chooses its own example. It points out the performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as an example of this, which has performed well below Warner Bros’ expectations. Ignoring, on the other hand, that it is actually a game as a service.
On the other hand, it’s not the only thing that Perrette ignores. Warner Bros’ most recent and monumental success has been Hogwarts Legacy, which has sold over 22 million copies, and it doesn’t fit into any of the three types of games they want to focus on in the future. Except that they have also taken it into account. Their problem with Hogwarts Legacy is that it ends in one sitting. It doesn’t generate money beyond the initial sale. They state that it would be interesting to make a game as a service around Hogwarts Legacy “where people can work, build, and play in that world continuously”.
While Perrette claims that she does not expect to see the current investment in video games at any point between 2025 and 2027, it seems that the company’s plans are closer to the Suicide Squad model than to the Hogwarts Legacy model. A questionable move, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out in the long run.
