General Gaming Warner Bros. Wants To Shift Away From "Volatile" AAA Console Games, Lean Into Free-To-Play And Mobile

[AbsolutSurgen]

Warner Bros. Wants To Shift Away From "Volatile" AAA Console Games, Lean Into Free-To-Play And Mobile - GameSpot

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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."

 

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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 latest big games, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, was a disappointment for the company.

 

So the plan going forward, he said, is 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. Also worth noting is that just because WBD may push into new places, that doesn't necessarily mean it will stop making big single-player AAA games.

 

"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.

 

 

[Firewithin]

[Mr.Vic20]

Even though I've historically been a graphics obsessed gamer, I can acknowledge that many of my favorite games are not graphical show pieces. I'd be fine with AAA gaming crumbling away and AA gaming being the norm for the high end, as long as the games are fun. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Isnt F2P and mobile gaming also volatile? I guess the games are often cheaper to make so when they die in year they likely already made back their development in whatever micro transactions. 

[Mr.Vic20]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Isnt F2P and mobile gaming also volatile? I guess the games are often cheaper to make so when they die in year they likely already made back their development in whatever micro transactions. 

Bingo. Monetized games rake in a butt load of cash, even some of the ones that failed. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Could it be that people were starved for a Harry Potter game that turned out well and no one was excited to play as the suicide squad in a funky shooting game? 🤔

 

No it must be the AAA games. Let's go with free to play mobile games, those will never fail.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The word "volatile" could be applied to just about every aspect of the video game industry currently.

[Firewithin]

its telling when them describing a shitty GAAS game they put "play" last in that list

[Remarkableriots]

Warner Bros. Discovery wants to go low-budget on both games and movies/television to maximize profits with a low investment. So switching to mostly reality-unscripted programming, F2P, and mobile gaming makes sense for them.

[stepee]

4 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Even though I've historically been a graphics obsessed gamer, I can acknowledge that many of my favorite games are not graphical show pieces. I'd be fine with AAA gaming crumbling away and AA gaming being the norm for the high end, as long as the games are fun. 

 

Luckily things are moving in a way where I don’t think we need to give up amazing graphics to reduce production values. So much of what makes a game look good can be accomplished with tech itself. UE5 is already showing impressive results in the AA space with the likes of Banishers and Robocop. We just need meta human and things like that to get easier/more common as character models aren’t as easy to streamline yet as opposed to world detail. Banishers especially feels just like any AAA game in its production. 

 

I do like here though that since a live service game didn’t perform well particularly because it’s a live service game, the answer is to double down on live service games. Since the non live service game they released did record numbers, this only makes sense.

[Mr.Vic20]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

Luckily things are moving in a way where I don’t think we need to give up amazing graphics to reduce production values. So much of what makes a game look good can be accomplished with tech itself. UE5 is already showing impressive results in the AA space with the likes of Banishers and Robocop. We just need meta human and things like that to get easier/more common as character models aren’t as easy to streamline yet as opposed to world detail. Banishers especially feels just like any AAA game in its production. 

 

I do like here though that since a live service game didn’t perform well particularly because it’s a a live service game, so the answer is to double down on live service games. Since the non live service game they released did record numbers, this only makes sense.

Where I see the down grade is in motion capture cut scenes and custom textures. 

[stepee]

4 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Where I see the down grade is in motion capture cut scenes and custom textures. 

 

True! But to me that’s a small part of the overall picture - and I’m sure devs will still put in the work there, they just need to cut it all down from 100 hour worlds.

[Paperclyp]

This is the most corporate conclusion possible to the current situation at hand.