The video game industry is facing a complicated moment, marked by the closure of prominent studios like Monolith Productions and Arkane Austin, as well as significant layoffs at Bungie and Rocksteady. Even successful titles like Marvel Rivals have had to reduce their staff in the U.S. The uncertainty in the sector has led many to point out that the release of GTA 6 could act as a catalyst to revitalize the market and create new job opportunities. It is necessary to better understand what players want Leslie Benzies, a veteran of Rockstar and current head of the studio Build a Rocket Boy, who […]
The video game industry is facing a challenging moment, marked by the closure of prominent studios such as Monolith Productions and Arkane Austin, as well as significant layoffs at Bungie and Rocksteady. Even highly successful titles, such as Marvel Rivals, have had to reduce their staff in the U.S. The uncertainty in the sector has led many to point out that the release of GTA 6 could act as a catalyst to revitalize the market and create new job opportunities.
It is necessary to better understand what the players want
Leslie Benzies, a veteran of Rockstar and the current head of the studio Build a Rocket Boy, which is developing the game MindsEye, has shared his perspective on the current state of the industry. In an interview, Benzies argued that there is a finite player base, pointing out that “there are no more hours in the day” and that the exponential growth of the video game supply is beginning to have concerning implications, manifested through closures and layoffs in recent times.
Benzies’ advice to developers in the sector is clear: “Nowadays, we need to analyze the analytics. We must see what people want to play”. However, these ideas are not universally agreed upon. Johan Pilestedt, director of Helldivers 2, has urged studios to avoid “safe bets” and focus on creativity and innovation. According to Pilestedt, relying solely on proven formulas can be a “death sentence” for the industry.
Benzies also emphasized the importance of experimentation in game development, suggesting that his studio uses user-generated content systems to build low-cost test levels. This strategy allows for adjusting ideas based on audience feedback before making large investments in development. MindsEye, the new project, aims to provide an experience similar to platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, where user creation and participation are key.
Warner Bros has one of the strongest video game divisions in the industry. That doesn’t change the fact that it is also one of the ones facing the most problems currently. With 2,000 employees spread across more than a dozen subsidiaries, they have been struggling for almost a decade to meet expectations. This has led to a situation of constant game cancellations and massive layoffs among its studios. What is the reason for this? The management of a man who is no longer with the company. All of Warner Bros’ problems have a specific name At the end of […]
Warner Bros has one of the strongest video game divisions in the industry. However, it is also one of the ones facing the most problems currently. With 2,000 employees spread across more than a dozen subsidiaries, they have been struggling for almost a decade to meet expectations. This has led to a situation of constant game cancellations and massive layoffs among its studios. What is the reason for this? It is due to the management of a man who is no longer with the company.
At the end of January, the departure of David Haddad, the president of Warner Bros. Interactive, was announced. Having been invited to leave, rather than being fired, it was a move that was expected to happen sooner rather than later after he had a series of consecutive failures and there was not only a lack of clear direction in the video game division but also evident discontent among the studios.
Why? Because Warner Bros. Interactive reported losses of 200 million dollars associated with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in addition to another 100 million dollars associated with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions and MultiVersus. The first and last are the games that were supposed to lead the division during these years.
According to Bloomberg in an extensive report, the reason this has happened is due to Haddad’s lack of vision. With little to no interest in the world of video games, lacking knowledge of it, he was focused on chasing trends and wasting resources in useless ways, both by changing approaches midway through development and assigning games to studios that did not have clear experience in that kind of genre. This became especially evident in the case of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Additionally, sources from the studies claim that communication was also poor. This often resulted in months passing without knowing what the company’s next game would be or whether they would participate in the next E3.
Closures, chaos, and various nonsense
This lack of communication is something that was perceived at many points during his presidency. When it was decided to close the Cartoon Network Games division, not only were a dozen games removed from physical and digital stores, but the developers were not notified in advance, who had to find out through the press. Creating a small chaos that could have been avoided had the situation been communicated beforehand.
In the same way, the lack of communication has a lot to do with the failure of MultiVersus and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The former was launched in open beta, with great success, only to be closed and relaunched months later, with poor communication and extremely aggressive monetization, which led players to turn away from it. The latter was developed by a studio that was not specialized in that genre, when it was no longer trending, simply to try to ride a wave that was already passing.
Because that has defined the last years of Warner Bros. Interactive. From the presidency of David Haddad. Chasing trends at the wrong time, not knowing what the audience wants, and not listening to either developers or players. With the expected results.
The situation of Warner Bros’ four crown jewels
Thanks to Boomblerg, we know the specific situation of the four main studios of Warner Bros. Although not very encouraging, it seems that all four are working on different projects, to some extent. All of them demonstrating the obvious: that there is a very serious management problem within the company.
At Monolith Productions, responsible for the two Middle-earth: Shadow games, they have been working for years on a Wonder Woman game. Announced in 2021, changed directors last year, and restarted in early 2024, ensuring that we won’t see it for a long time. And aside from the fact that it will feature an evolution of the Nemesis system from their Lord of the Rings games, we know absolutely nothing about this game. Or if it will ever be released.
Warner Bros. Games Montreal, on the other hand, is in a delicate position. After the failure of Gotham Knights following several changes imposed by management, they have been serving as a support studio sending several proposals, all of which have been rejected. They finally accepted the proposal to make a Flash game which, after the box office failure of the movie, was canceled. This led to a large part of the studio’s management resigning and the rest trying to get approval for a project based on Game of Thrones.
Avalanche Software may seem to be on the other end after the success of Hogwarts Legacy. But we fear it is not that easy. The failure of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions makes them fear that the success of the first game may not be plausible again and they needed external help from almost all Warner Bros studios to lift it, which puts them in a very delicate position regarding a hypothetical Hogwarts Legacy 2. Not to mention another project.
On their part, Rocksteady Studios is in a terrible position. Working on a new Batman game, the directors left the studio in 2022 and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice is the biggest failure in Warner Bros history and one of the biggest recent failures in video games. This puts them on the brink.
Is it possible to get out of this situation?
All of this does not mean that Warner Bros is not in a position to come back in full form. But to do so, they need to make concrete plans, measure their steps very carefully, and take into account their strengths and weaknesses. Continuing to chase trends and blindly swinging will only lead them to what they are currently heading towards: ruin.
Inviting David Haddad to leave has been a good start. But now they must do more. Much more. They need to secure interesting projects, in the right project, and pray that the talent to do so hasn’t been burned out by the disastrous management of the previous administration. All of this assuming that the current administration is not only better but suitable. Because Warner Bros is facing some very tough years ahead. They have come out of worse situations, Warner Bros included. But for that, future vision is needed, and it remains to be seen if they will have it.
