Warner Bros. Games Continues to Lose Money
Go woke, go broke is a process, as Warner Bros. Games is discovering. The video game division of Warner Bros. Discovery had a bad year in 2024, with the high profile failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League not only exposing one of the more disturbing sides of the gaming industry by shining a light on Sweet Baby Inc. and other DEI consulting firms but losing Warner Bros. $200 million according to an earnings call last year (in which it was specifically called out) being the primary reason. But there were other failures, too, like the online free-to-play fighting game Multiversus, which is being taken offline at the end of the month;, the poor performance of Multiversus lost Warner Bros. $100 million and led to developer Player First Games being shuttered. Early this year, the Wonder Woman game was canceled and its developer, Monolith Productions, was also closed, while the last Harry Potter game, Quidditch Champions, cratered, with almost half of its players disappearing in its second week on PlayStation Network.
And the pain isn’t done yet. That Park Place reports that, according to its 2025 Quarter 1 financial report, Warner Bros. Games has seen its revenue decline by 48% this year. This is due to the company’s disastrous slate of releases in 2024 and its lack of games in 2025 – its complete lack of games, as Warner Bros. Games hasn’t released anything this year. Even worse, it’s got no new games on the horizon save a new Batman game from Rocksteady Studios, though there’s no title, release date, or much information at all aside from the fact that it’s about Batman. What little cash Warner Bros. Games made this year was thanks mostly to Hogwarts Legacy, the massively successful Harry Potter game from 2023, and Mortal Kombat 1, the newest entry in the brutal fighting game series, also from 2023.; however, Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 are now two years old, so while they remain popular (especially Hogwarts Legacy), they can only move so many units at this point. In other words, Warner Bros. Games is running on fumes, and there are no gas stations in sight.
Things do not look good for Warner Bros. Games; it may have removed some of its problems, but it still has no means of generating more revenue right now, and its next big game is a long ways off. It makes me wonder if their strategy is a good one. I’m sure pulling the plug on some of these games was the right decision; Multiversus had to cost more to keep running than it would have ever taken in, especially after the game lost so many players after the open beta period. And ending Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was still putting out new seasons, with each one looking more ridiculous and embarrassing than the last, with the absolute zenith of cringe being the introduction of Mrs. Freeze, a lesbian multiversal replacement for the classic Batman villain Mr. Freeze. The only thing you can do with a disaster that massive is to end it before it not only costs you more money but continues dragging the name of your company through the mud. But maybe they should have stuck with Wonder Woman; I know they were trying to cut costs as quickly as possible, but it may have been worth it to have an actual game in development, especially one many gamers were looking forward to. Wonder Woman was supposed to be innovative in its gameplay, and it sounded like a lot of fun; it’s a shame we’ll never see it now. I understand wanting to focus on Batman and other big DC properties (along with Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Mortal Kombat, its other major IPs, according to That Park Place), but Wonder Woman is one of DC’s key players and, if the game were well-made, could have been a win for them. It will be great if Warner Bros. Games (and Warner Bros. Discovery) can make it through this rough patch, but they’ve got their work cut out for them.
Let us know what you think about Warner Bros. Games losing so much money this quarter in the comments!
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