WB Games Shifts Strategy to Spotlight Major Franchises and Iconic Characters
Image via WB Games / Rocksteady
Warner Bros. Games aims to reshape its gaming sector around four key franchises: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC.
The organization elaborated on this vision in its latest shareholder letter, emphasizing that it views its gaming division as a “strategic differentiator.”
It reiterated that 2024 marked a ‘disappointing year’ for the division, with titles like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and Multiversus failing to meet expectations, and confirmed it will be restructuring around “proven IP and games from reputable, world-class studios.”
This cost-cutting strategy has already led to the shutdown of key studios such as Shadow of Mordor creator Monolith Productions (which was working on a Wonder Woman project), Multiversus developer Player First Games, and WB San Diego.
These closures followed job cuts at other internal studios including Rocksteady and WB Games Montreal.
WB Games seems determined to look back for insights on how to rejuvenate its struggling sector—with gaming revenues declining by 29 percent year-over-year during Q4. Annual state earnings, which encompasses video games, also dropped by 8 percent year-over-year during FY2024.
WB Games invokes Hogwarts Legacy
WB Games frequently referenced the 2023 release Hogwarts Legacy as an example of how it intends to utilize a major franchise for success, and it appears the company believes emphasizing a few large franchises and ‘top-tier characters’ (notably Batman was mentioned here) is the best approach moving forward.
“Just two years ago, our Games team broke through with Hogwarts Legacy and established a truly new gaming franchise that became the best-selling game of the year—a feat that only three other franchises have achieved in the past 15 years,” the shareholder letter continues.
“This gives us confidence that with our refocused strategy we can return to producing high-quality games designed for long-term consumer engagement, which we expect will drive our Games division back to profitability in 2025 and become a more significant contributor to growth in the years to come.”
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News Editor, GameDeveloper.com
Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist with over a decade of experience in the gaming industry. His work has been featured in prominent print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, Global Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events such as GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has served as a judge at The Develop Star Awards multiple times and has appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.