During an earnings call this week, Warner Bros. confirmed that its games division had underperformed in 2024, and going forward, the company plans to refocus efforts on four key IP pillars, including Batman. After Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus led to a $300 million hit to its revenue, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav explained that Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC–in particular Batman–will be the company’s focal points.
The other big change here will be a reduced number of games in development, leading to a “steadier” gaming business, Zaslav explained during a financial call.
Batman Arkham Shadows Blew Us Away | gamescom 2024
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“We’re through some of the worst–and it hasn’t been pretty on the gaming business–but we have four games that are really powerful and have a real constituency that love them, and we’re going to focus on those four primarily,” Zaslav said (via IGN). “We’re going to go away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games. I think we have a real chance now with focus to have the gaming business be steadier. “We have four strong and profitable game franchises with loyal, global fans: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC in particular Batman. We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio.”
Batman’s appearance in Suicide Squad this year was controversial, but in comparison, the new VR-exclusive Arkham Shadow game has been warmly received. It remains to be seen how well Arkham Shadow does commercially, but the game is available as a freebie with a purchase of the new Meta Quest 3S headset.
Beyond that, a Hogwarts Legacy sequel is reportedly in development and NetherRealm continues to support Mortal Kombat 1 with new guest-character DLC. Monolith Productions is working on a Wonder Woman game, and following the poor critical and commercial performance of Suicide Squad, Rocksteady is said to have pivoted to new projects, with one of them reportedly being a Hogwarts Legacy director’s cut.