Warner Bros. Games has revealed its plans to double down on four of its key titles, after the disappointing performance of the company’s previous releases.
As reported by IGN, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav discussed their next steps during a financial call, disclosing the decision to significantly reduce the number of video games released in the near future, instead prioritising only four titles: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and DC, Batman in particular, which Zaslav pointed out.
“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,” he said, adding that the company will be “[going] away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games.”
It’s no surprise that WB Games has had it rough recently, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was dead on arrival, resulting in a US$200 million hit to revenue, while its free-to-play Smash Bros.-styled brawler MultiVersus underperformed too, adding another US$100 million loss.
Among the four titles in question, Batman certainly seems the most interesting. WB Games subsidiary, Rocksteady Studios, is best known for crafting the well-received Batman Arkham games, and its recent misstep with the live-service Suicide Squad multiplayer shooter might have been a wake-up call to shift focus back to its Batman roots. WB Games has also just released the VR-exclusive Batman: Arkham Shadow, which garnered positive reception, a good sign for the company’s further Gotham endeavours.
In regards to Mortal Kombat, developer NetherRealm Studios released their latest title, Mortal Kombat 1, in September last year, with development chief Ed Boon assuring fans of their commitment to support the game “for a long time to come” via a post on X/Twitter, while also revealing during an interview with ComicBook that the company’s next game has been in development for three years and counting.
While WB Games’ long-term plans remain up in the air, fans at least know what to expect in the near future, with the company recently confirming development on a Hogwarts Legacy sequel, as well as a Wonder Woman game in the works by Monolith Productions.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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