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During a recent Morgan Stanley speaking event, Warner Bros. Discovery gaming boss J.B. Perrette discussed some of the company's strategy for gaming going forward, and it includes more live-service, mobile, and free-to-play games.

He said, "We're doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities we have on the studio where we're uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games."

Perrette said WBD's recent gaming output has focused on AAA games for console, and that's great when a game like Hogwarts Legacy sells 22 million copies and becomes the best-selling game of the year, but this kind of success is never guaranteed in what Perrette said was a "volatile" market. He pointed out that one of WBD's next big games, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, was a disappointment for the company.

So the plan going forward, he said, was to help reduce volatility by focusing on core franchises and bringing at least some of them to the mobile and free-to-play space, as well as continuing to invest in live-service games that people play--and spend money on--over a long period of time. This will help WBD generate more consistent revenue, he said, going on to tease that WBD had some new mobile free-to-play games coming this year.

"Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?" he said.

Perrette went on to say that WBD is uniquely positioned because it has popular brands--he singled out Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC as its biggest--as well as 11 different internal game development studios. He also teased that WBD has a "strategic investment plan" to help make future games more successful, adding that the company just recently brought someone on to help with brand management and sustainability.

If WBD can execute, Perrette said he expects gaming to bring "meaningful growth" to the company in the years to come. But making games takes time, so Perrette cautioned that the company is laying the foundation now for returns that could come in 2025, 2026, and 2027.

Perrette went on to say how he has no idea how the gaming landscape will evolve over time, but he believes owning the IP and studios could help WBD succeed where others might not. He also called out things like virtual reality and "virtual worlds" as places that will "increase in scale and adoption" in the future.

Some of WBD's upcoming video games include a Harry Potter Quidditch game and a Wonder Woman title from the makers of Shadow of Mordor.

WBD's approach to gaming is very different to Disney's. The company, years ago, developed and published games in-house, but now licenses its franchises to other companies. For example, Disney just paid Epic $1.5 billion to bring its franchises to Fortnite.

Disney is also working with a variety of companies, including EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, and Quantic Dream on Star Wars games, and has a deal with Microsoft/Bethesda for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Blade.

Warner Bros. Discusses "Volatile" AAA Console Games, Will Lean Into Free-To-Play And Mobile

The company envisions a future Harry Potter game where you can "live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis."

www.gamespot.com

 

[Kurotri]

You dumb motherfucker YOU RELEASED HOGWARTS LEGACY JUST KAFJASKLFJ

 

[Mister Wolf]

It's "volatile" when you don't give us what we want. How hard was it to just have Rocksteady or WB Montreal make a single player Batman Beyond videogame set in the Arkham Universe.

 

[drganon]

WB as a whole is going down in flames.

 

[Three]

I mean they're right that console gaming has become highly volatile. It's become completely unpredictable and some negative or positive word of mouth completely snowballs nowadays in this industry.

 

[SlimySnake]

lol these suits are so clueless. the industry is being run by incompetent fools.

 

[LordCBH]

WB leadership are incompetent.

They released a game last year thst sold a metric fuck ton and made a ton of money.

WB: we wanna get away from that.

A serious company would fire these assclowns.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Can't wait to play the WB match 3 reskinned jewel games.
4 sorting hats in a row!

 

[Porticus]

Make it less volatile starting by not making a shitty game.

 

[Bojji]

Spoiler

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

 

[SlimySnake]

WB leadership are incompetent.

They released a game last year thst sold a metric fuck ton and made a ton of money.

WB: we wanna get away from that.

A serious company would fire these assclowns.

Suit sees he has literally the best selling game of the year.

Conclusion: I'm out.

 

[intbal]

This is what happens when shareholders have control over creative decisions.

 

[arkhamguy123]

Genuinely infuriating how idiots like this get paid so much to be the stupidest motherfuckers you've ever seen

Unironically you could poach a random neogaf user who would know how to run the gaming division better. At the very least on creative decisions

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

It's "volatile" when you don't give us what we want. How hard was it to just have Rocksteady or WB Montreal make a single player Batman Beyond videogame set in the Arkham Universe.

The Batman games weren't as successful as you think they were.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Eat shit, Zaslav.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Warner Bros. Discusses "Volatile" AAA Console Games, Will Lean Into Free-To-Play And Mobile

The company envisions a future Harry Potter game where you can "live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis."

www.gamespot.com

Holy shit. LMAO.

They don't wanna invest in AAA SP traditional model even after 24 million sales.

Goes on to show how hard it must be, especially when you are not platform holder.

 

[drganon]

The Batman games weren't as successful as you think they were.

More successful than suicide squad.

 

[Kokoloko85]

You shouldnt be allowed to be a CEO or in charge of games unless your an actual gamers lol, these guys are buffoons

 

[Bojji]

Suit sees he has literally the best selling game of the year.

Conclusion: I'm out.

They are dumb fucks.

When they don't make any money on mobile they will be back, lol.

 

[Mister Wolf]

The Batman games weren't as successful as you think they were.

As compared to Suicide Squad or Gotham Knights? How did that financial investment of hundreds of millions of dollars work out for them?

 

[arkhamguy123]

The Batman games weren't as successful as you think they were.

Source?

 

[Krieger]

A dozen chimpanzees on crack could come up with better decisions than the idiots at WB.

 

[Northeastmonk]

When nongamers make big gaming decisions just to get rich. That's what this is.

 

[Roman Empire]

I can smell they burning money while chasing trends.

 

[Interfectum]

If they think AAA is tough, wait until they see F2P and mobile.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

make Hogwart legacy gacha game for mobile and consoles = print money.

 

[Draugoth]

Yes, because Multiversus being in development hell for 2 years is a good sign.

 

[SoloCamo]

lol these suits are so clueless. the industry is being run by incompetent fools.

I just want the crash to happen already, the slow painful churning that we are doing now is quite old.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

So is HL2 completely fucked, then?

Ugh

 

[Kacho]

These fucking GAMERS won't buy our GAAS trash!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Everyone is taking the predictable response here to be angry at WB, but they see the financials for this. They know Hogwarts sold well. They aren't even saying here that they won't do a follow up to Hogwarts, but it's becoming more difficult for these games to hit profitability, they're a massive risk.

Konami jumped out of the AAA arena and we all mocked them for it.

I feel like we used to get 3-4 AAA games a year and now we get 20+.

I think it is unsustainable because the market is overcrowded and everyone is chasing the AAA dragon and now that costs are reaching record highs the consistency of returns aren't there.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

More successful than suicide squad.

As compared to Suicide Squad or Gotham Knights? How did that financial investment of hundreds of millions of dollars work out for them?

Good thing no one at these companies views strategy as a binary process.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

These fucking GAMERS won't buy our GAAS trash!

Another interesting take.

Young gamers have no problem with GaaS. It's where the industry is going for the future. It would be foolish for them not to explore that avenue. And if that avenue still fails, yeah, you might have to re-evaluate monetization going forward. If you're unable to monetize on a constant basis and you're unable to consistently sell enough units, then you have to reduce costs.

 

[00_Zer0]

WB as a whole is going down in flames.

Hope they eventually sell off their Midway catalog of game they never use (excluding Mortal Kombat). Probably will never happen, but maybe someday the new Atari can buy the Midway catalog from WB. The new Atari are doing great things with companies like Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios. Heck, some of those old Midway games used to be owned by Atari's arcade division back in the day anyway.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

If they think AAA is tough, wait until they see F2P and mobile.

Meanwhile, F2P and mobile:

 

[Zheph]

Ah yes the very stable F2P and Mobile markets

 

[arkhamguy123]

Everyone is taking the predictable response here to be angry at WB, but they see the financials for this. They know Hogwarts sold well. They aren't even saying here that they won't do a follow up to Hogwarts, but it's becoming more difficult for these games to hit profitability, they're a massive risk.

Konami jumped out of the AAA arena and we all mocked them for it.

I feel like we used to get 3-4 AAA games a year and now we get 20+.

I think it is unsustainable because the market is overcrowded and everyone is chasing the AAA dragon and now that costs are reaching record highs the consistency of returns aren't there.

*Vamperic soulless business man says laughably out of touch illogical things about gaming*

"yes how predicable everyone on this gaming forum being angry. How quaint. Not I, the guy who sees above it and has the real measured take"

In the age of public knowledge gamers are pretty aware of the financials too dude. We know how much HL sold. We know SS and GK flopped colossally. The only thing we don't see that he can are budgets. But it's pretty incontrovertible that the SP game made a profit and the MP attempts did not. Thus, yes, his statements garner a negative feedback. It's not really that deep dude

 

[Pelta88]

F2P is the polite way to saying "Micro transactions" and/or "Pay to Win."

I wonder where the industry would be if they focused on building great and immersive ip first and foremost?

 

[GymWolf]

Helldivers 2 being so successful in the same time span make this even funnier.

 

[Kacho]

It's where the industry is going for the future.

It's where most of the big AAAA publishers are going and I'm not going with them.

If you're unable to monetize on a constant basis and you're unable to consistently sell enough units, then you have to reduce costs.

If their success in the industry lies solely on how much they can monetize me, and reducing budgets isn't an option, then they can get out for all I care.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

"We dont give a fuck about our target audience and made pieces of shit no-one wanted. So now we'll be doing the same for the mobile market."

I do hope they go fucking bankrupt.

 

[lughnasadh123]

It really only became "volatile" for them when trying to shoehorn GaaS into their typical well-received single player titles. Conclusion? Go even harder on the GaaS part.

Hogwarts Legacy didn't just succeed because it has a beloved IP - the Batman universe is pretty well liked, too. What happened is you had a team, and more importantly a vision, that crafted a game out of the love for that IP. That's the difference. Stop looking at how to build a game as a cash cow and focus more on making a game you want to play.

 

[poodaddy]

Ya know what? Good. Just makes em easier to ignore. No more getting hype about the potential of good WB games, we can just write them off entirely, which is kind of a return to the form of the 90's and 2000's, so that's fine honestly.

 

[TonberrysKnife]

You've gotta be kidding me. Didn't Hogwarts Legacy sell a fuck ton of copies???? Suicide Squad wound up being a massive flop no surprise. Gotham Knights was....okay for the most part. READ THE ROOM MUHFUCKA!

 

[RavageX]

Mobile and Free-to-Play? Imma head out.

 

[arkhamguy123]

Another interesting take.

Young gamers have no problem with GaaS. It's where the industry is going for the future. It would be foolish for them not to explore that avenue. And if that avenue still fails, yeah, you might have to re-evaluate monetization going forward. If you're unable to monetize on a constant basis and you're unable to consistently sell enough units, then you have to reduce costs.

Yeah they have no problem with like the big 3-4 established gaas titles. They seldom reach outside of that. Hence just about every wannabe attempt since 2017 flopping.

Also you're talking about WB's GaaS attempt like a big what if, but it's already happened. They tried their hand from their absolute most A list developer with the best IP the suits could think to throw at it and it bombed harder than the Tsar H-bomb

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

All these F2P games competing with each other in like 5 years...what can possibly go wrong, lmao.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Spirit Icana]

Lot's of talk there about revenue and IP. None about audience, expansion, or game quality. Their trajectory will depend on the studio's they have to find an audience. Overall, boring company.