Warner Bros. Games is pushing forward with its live service strategy, undeterred by the lukewarm critical and commercial reception of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. During a recent presentation at Morgan Stanley’s Technology Media and Telecom Conference, J.B. Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, detailed the company’s focus on ‘games as a service,’ free-to-play formats, and mobile gaming while expressing skepticism towards the sustainability of traditional triple-A console releases.
At the conference, Perrette emphasized Warner Bros. commitment to evolving its most prominent franchises into live service games, indicating a potential departure from the reliance on conventional triple-A titles. “The challenge we’ve had is that our business, historically, has been very triple-A console-based. That’s a great business when you have a hit like Harry Potter (Hogwarts Legacy), it makes the year look amazing. And then, when you don’t have a release, or, unfortunately, we also have disappointments — we just released Suicide Squad this quarter, which was not as strong — it just makes it very volatile,” he remarked.
Perrette pointed out that existing franchises such as Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC could serve as springboards for a broader approach beyond console gaming. “We think there’s an opportunity to take those four franchises and develop a much more holistic approach, particularly around expanding into the mobile and multi-platform free-to-play space, which can give us a much better and more consistent set of revenue,” he said. He also confirmed that several free-to-play mobile games are slated for release later this year.
Despite the phenomenal success of Hogwarts Legacy last year, Warner Bros. is expressing hesitance about future triple-A console ventures, primarily due to the lengthy development times and substantial financial investments they require. The company sees a live service model as a way to foster ongoing player engagement and ensure more stable revenue streams. Perrette mentioned the possibility of evolving a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy into a live service format, asking, “How do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service, where people can continue to live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?”
Warner Bros. first hinted at its shift towards live service games during an earnings call last November, where CEO David Zaslav stated that the intent was to turn its major franchises into long-term products. “Ultimately we want to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels,” he noted at the time.
The company appears to be unshaken by the disappointing performance of its latest release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was crafted around a live service looter shooter model. Launched last month on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X, the game reportedly did not meet Warner Bros.’ expectations. Currently, the third-person shooter has seen peaks of just over 13,000 players on Steam, with only 208 players online at the time of writing. A review from our team rated the game 6/10, citing its live service model as a limiting factor, with issues like “baffling design choices, mundane mission structure, and unclear identity” undermining its potential strengths.
The live service model has reached a level of saturation in the industry, with numerous titles vying for player engagement. While established games like Fortnite and Call of Duty continue to thrive, newer entries have faced challenges in successfully adapting the model. Additionally, many heavily monetized live service games have seen a decline in favor among players.
In contrast, Hogwarts Legacy, which was a single-player console release devoid of microtransactions and live service components, emerged as the best-selling game last year, achieving over 22 million in sales.