By Sagar Mankar 
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will now focus on just four key franchises, marking a substantial shift in its gaming strategy.
CEO David Zaslav announced this decision during the latest earnings call on November 7. These four major franchises are:
- Mortal Kombat
- Batman
- Harry Potter
- Game of Thrones
“We have four strong and profitable game franchises with loyal, global fans,” Zaslav stated.
Why Is Warner Bros. Changing Its Gaming Strategy?
The decision comes after a series of financial setbacks in WBD’s gaming division. According to recent earnings calls, the company faced substantial losses, including:
- A reported $200 million loss from “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League“
- An additional $100 million hit from “MultiVersus“
- Disappointing performance of latest release “Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions“
- A 31% revenue decline in Q3 2024 compared to the previous year
- And over 41% revenue decrease in Q2 2024 compared to the previous year
“I think we’re through some of the worst — and it hasn’t been pretty — on the gaming business,” Zaslav said, as quoted by Insider-Gaming.
MultiVersus, once popular with an all-time peak of 153,433 players, now averages just over 1600 concurrent users, according to SteamDB. This dramatic decline reflects how challenging it has been for WB Games to maintain consistent player engagement.
What’s Happening with Current Projects?
Several projects are still in active development or receiving updates:
- Hogwarts Legacy: A sequel is confirmed to be in development, as reported by Variety
- A “Director’s Cut” of the first Hogwarts Legacy game is reportedly in the works, with Rocksteady as co-developer
- Mortal Kombat 1: Currently received the Khaos Reigns expansion, while the second DLC wave, featuring Ghostface from Scream coming this November
- Batman: The recent release of Batman: Arkham Shadow for Meta Quest 3, and a new game based on Gotham Knights are reportedly in work
- Wonder Woman: The game from Monolith Productions appears to still be in development
What Can Fans Expect?
Moving forward, the company will now concentrate on fewer releases to stabilize its gaming business. “We’re going to go away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games,” Zaslav added.
While the narrower focus might disappoint fans of WB’s broader IP catalog, it suggests we can expect higher-quality releases for the four core franchises in the near future.
For now, Hogwarts Legacy, launched by Avalanche Software, became a major success with over 30 copies sold by October 2024. Meanwhile, NetherRealm Studios’s Mortal Kombat 1 has sold over 4 million units worldwide by August 2024.
For more information, you can read Warner Bros’s Q3 earnings results. And Remember to subscribe to Gaming Foodle for more news!
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