Warner Bros. eyes more live service games, addresses plans in ‘volatile’ market

Fresh off the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it sounds like Warner Bros. is looking to reshape its gaming strategy with further pivots into live service models. That means more free-to-play and mobile titles, less one-and-done.

As first reported by GameSpot, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games for Warner Bros. Discovery, J.B. Perrette, recently outlined the company’s plans for the future while speaking at a Morgan Stanley event. Perrette touted the success of Hogwarts Legacy before using Suicide Squad as an example of one of its big swing-and-misses in the AAA gaming market during a time of increased volatility. 

That volatility is something Perrette said Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to avoid further disappointments with. The CEO admitted again that Kill the Justice League did not meet WB’s performance goals. He sees focusing on “core franchises” like the company’s Hogwarts Legacy project as an opportunity. However, instead of singleplayer, pick-up-and-put-down experiences, Perette describes a more monetized future for long term revenue streams.

“Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game […] that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?” Perrette said.

Ultimately, Warner Bros. may not be abandoning the singleplayer AAA space entirely, but mobile, free-to-play, and live-service games are currently its primary focus. 

That’s not exactly thrilling news for gamers who are getting sick of the live-service trend. Suicide Squad itself is a live-service game, and it stands as a shining example that the model isn’t guaranteed to succeed. We’re light on details about the games Warner Bros. currently has in development, so it’s hard to say how soon this strategic shift will impact the publisher’s projects.WB already confirmed the upcoming Wonder Woman game won’t be live-service, but the fate of the multiplayer Harry Potter Quidditch game is still up in the air. In his talk, Perrette noted that the company likely won’t see returns from this new strategy for a couple of years, so we might not see a glut of new Warner Bros. mobile games until 2025 or 2026. 

Fresh off the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it sounds like Warner Bros. is looking to reshape its gaming strategy with further pivots into live service models. That means more free-to-play and mobile titles, less one-and-done.

As first reported by GameSpot, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games for Warner Bros. Discovery, J.B. Perrette, recently outlined the company’s plans for the future while speaking at a Morgan Stanley event. Perrette touted the success of Hogwarts Legacy before using Suicide Squad as an example of one of its big swing-and-misses in the AAA gaming market during a time of increased volatility. 

That volatility is something Perrette said Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to avoid further disappointments with. The CEO admitted again that Kill the Justice League did not meet WB’s performance goals. He sees focusing on “core franchises” like the company’s Hogwarts Legacy project as an opportunity. However, instead of singleplayer, pick-up-and-put-down experiences, Perette describes a more monetized future for long term revenue streams.

“Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game […] that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?” Perrette said.

Ultimately, Warner Bros. may not be abandoning the singleplayer AAA space entirely, but mobile, free-to-play, and live-service games are currently its primary focus. 

That’s not exactly thrilling news for gamers who are getting sick of the live-service trend. Suicide Squad itself is a live-service game, and it stands as a shining example that the model isn’t guaranteed to succeed. We’re light on details about the games Warner Bros. currently has in development, so it’s hard to say how soon this strategic shift will impact the publisher’s projects.WB already confirmed the upcoming Wonder Woman game won’t be live-service, but the fate of the multiplayer Harry Potter Quidditch game is still up in the air. In his talk, Perrette noted that the company likely won’t see returns from this new strategy for a couple of years, so we might not see a glut of new Warner Bros. mobile games until 2025 or 2026.