Warner Bros. to pivot away from “volatile” AAA games and focus on live service

Warner Bros. has said it will pivot away from “volatile” AAA games to focus on live service and mobile titles.

Last month, the company said the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League “failed” to meet expectations. Following the success of Hogwarts Legacy in 2023, that failure set Warner Bros. up for a “difficult” year.

Speaking at a conference JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO for global streaming and games, said that their business revolved around four key brands – Harry Potter, DC, Mortal Kombat and Game Of Thrones. “These are all billion-dollar plus businesses by themselves,” he explained.

He went on to say that historically, Warner Bros. has been focused on “volatile” AAA titles.

“The opportunity is to take those four franchises and be able to develop a much more holistic approach,” said Perrette, wanting to expand into the mobile and multiplatform free-to-play space “which could give us a much better and consistent set of revenue.” The company plans to launch a number of mobile free-to-play games later this year.

Warner Bros. also wants to focus on live service titles. “Rather than just launching a one and done console game, how do we develop a live service game that people can play on an ongoing basis,” asked Perrette.

Live service games typically have waves of new content added after launch, in an attempt to keep players invested for as long as possible, and usually feature either season passes or micro-transactions. By comparison, traditional AAA single-player games usually have a deliberate storyline that can be completed in a set timeframe.

“We think we’ve got the franchises, we’ve got some of the greatest studio capabilities, and we have a roadmap and a strategic investment plan to try and build out that business. We think there’s meaningful growth over the course of the next couple of years,” Perrette added.

In November, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav said the company would be focusing on “transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always-on gameplay through live services, multiplatform, and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms”.

The company is already working on a new Wonder Woman game, though it’s not currently being designed as a live service title and Warner Bros have already confirmed future Harry Potter titles. 

In other news, Microsoft has revealed a new limited edition SpongeBob SquarePants special edition of the Xbox Series X.