Warner Bros. Games was, arguably, one of the biggest third-party publishers but in recent times, things have not gone their way following the shift to live-service and free-to-play titles. It started last year with the disappointing launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It was not the hit Warner Bros. thought it would be and the game had its last update released at the beginning of the year. Last year also saw the launch of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a free-to-play multiplayer game focused on the popular sport in the universe. Unfortunately, the game was also not successful. Another part of Warner Bros.’s new strategy was Multiversus, a free-to-play Smash-like, but the developers have recently announced that the game would be going offline in May. The tough year has led to the exit of Warner Bros. Games President David Haddad. Now, after all of the struggles, a new report has shed new light on the third-party publisher and what’s next.
NEW: The Wonder Woman game is in trouble. Rocksteady is working on a new Batman that is ages away. And the next two years look grim.
Inside the turmoil at Warner Bros. Games, which is ditching its president after a tenure of indecisiveness and unclear vision www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Back in November, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav told investors that the company’s video-game business was “substantially underperforming its potential.” JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Head of Games and Global Streaming spoke on the company’s commitment to the video game industry and talked about how he will take larger role running the division as the company looks for Haddad’s successor.
This story, based on interviews with more than two dozen people, details what studios like Monolith, WB Games Montreal, and Rocksteady have been doing over the last decade — and why WB Games has very little coming in the next two years: www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
“We’ll get right back to profitability in 2025,” Perrette said. “We won’t get back to the profitability we want to get back to in the next two to three years. It will take two to three years to rebuild, reset to levels we want to be at, but the bounce back is immediate as far as going from loss-making to profitability.”
As for what’s next, it might be a while before we see the next major title from Warner Bros. Games. The next major game probably would’ve been the Wonder Woman game being developed by Monolith Productions. The game was revealed back in 2021 but has not been seen since. The reason being is that the game has struggled to coalesce, accroding to people familiar with the project. The game was reportedly rebooted early last year and has switched directors. According to people who asked not to be identified, the game has already cost the company more than $100 million and it is sill years away from release.
From the outside, we assume the business functions normally: developer pitches a game, publisher says yes or no.
But reality is sometimes: developer pitches a game, waits for three months, asks what’s going on, publisher says “We love it but we’re not sure it’s aligned with our strategy right now”
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
WB Montreal’s last game was Gotham Knights, which released back in 2022. It was originally going to be a live-service game but that idea was scrapped halfway through development. The game went on to receive mediocre reviews and generate tepid sales. Montreal wanted to make another iteration of the game – a “1.5” version that would fix some of its predecessor’s flaws. However, leadership decided against that idea and had much of Montreal’s staff to help with other projects. After trying to pitch numerous projects such as a game featuring John Constantine and another with The Flash, most of Montreal’s leadership has resigned due to a lack of new games and frustration with their corporate bosses. In addition to helping out with titles like Wonder Woman, WB Montreal is also working on a new game based on Game of Thrones.
One thing that regularly shocks me about the video game industry is hearing how much time and money is wasted because executives are unwilling or unable to make a decision and communicate it clearly.
Anyway, don’t miss my feature about the turmoil at Warner Games: www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Avalanche Studios has had the biggest WB Games title recently with the success of Hogwarts Legacy. The developers are working on new content for the game such as the recently released Mod support for the game on PC and is also working on a sequel.
Following the disappointment of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, there have been reports that the studio is going back to basics and is working on a new Batman game. Bloomberg reports that the studio is indeed looking to return to Batman for a single-player game but the new project is years away from landing, according to people familiar with the timeline.