Warner Bros boss wants live-service Harry Potter or Hogwarts Legacy game
JB Perrette outlines a new strategy in video games for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros Discovery gaming CEO JB Perrette has revealed how the company will proceed with regards to video games at a recent Morgan Stanley Technology Media and Telecom Conference, and it represents something of a departure for the publisher and developer.
In the past, Warner Bros Discovery has focused on producing major AAA titles that often look and feel highly cinematic.
Just last year, it released the Harry Potter spin-off Hogwarts Legacy, which received mostly positive reviews.
The game went on to become the best-selling title of 2023, shifting 24 million copies. That is even more impressive considering last year was stuffed with huge releases, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2.
Warner Bros Discovery, which has 11 internal development studios, has had hits with myriad franchises outside the Potter universe, including the likes of the iconic fighting series Mortal Kombat and the influential Batman Arkham Trilogy.
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However, one of its recent big releases, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, fell short of expectations - and set WBD’s "games business up for a tough year", according to chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels.
Suicide Squad received mostly low scores from critics, including a two-star review here at RadioTimes.com.
As first reported by GameSpot, Perrette also said that Suicide Squad was a disappointment, and that the AAA games market was a "volatile" place.
To counteract that, he said Warner Bros Discovery would now focus on bringing some of its most popular properties, such as Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, to mobile, while continuing to invest in live-service games that people will spend money on over longer periods of time.
He said: "Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy and Harry Potter, that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?"
Perrette added that "expanding into the mobile and multi-platform free-to-play space could give us a much better and more consistent set of revenue", and that if this new strategy works, video games will bring meaningful growth to Warner Bros in the future.
MultiVersus, a live-service brawler that features characters from the Warner Bros pantheon including Superman, Bugs Bunny and Arya Stark, could be the first step in that direction - as it is expected to return with a new update soon.
This new blueprint does not necessarily mean that Warner Bros Discovery will no longer make major new games. It still has a new Harry Potter Quidditch game to come, as well as a Wonder Woman title and The Wolf Among Us 2: A Telltale Series.
For more on Warner Bros Discovery, why not read up on whether or not Hogwarts Legacy is due to get downloadable content or the right way to play the Batman Arkham Games in order?
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Authors
Joshua Lamb is a freelance writer at Radio Times Gaming, covering news and guides. He is also a games journalist and critic at The Times where he reviews the latest titles, having also previously reported on events such as Gamescom and the BAFTA Game Awards.
