As reported by our sister site GameSpot, during a Morgan Stanley-hosted event to shareholders and interested investors, the head of Warner Bros. Discovery's gaming division, J.B. Perrette, stated that the company's leadership viewed the overall sales and current online community for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was "disappointing." He highlighted the growing difficulties of AAA game development and that he was unclear about where the industry as a whole was going with the slowing of PlayStation 5 sales and Microsoft pivoting in a new direction with its consoles and games.
However, he went on to reiterate that there are no plans to scale back operations in gaming, but that the company would refocused to place a greater emphasis on live service games. Select quote from his talk include:
"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."
"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?"
This is not the first time WB Games has suggested that Hogwarts Legacy might be the direction they be going with its future game projects. Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling full-priced video game of 2023 in the United States and in other countries and even months after its release was still cracking the top tens on sales lists well into January 2024. The game was a massive financial success. As Kotaku reported, the game even broke a fourteen year record in which it was the first game since 2008 when a non-Rockstar or Call of Duty game was the best selling video game in the United States.
Nonetheless, the first hints of the possible negative impacts of this business strategy are already being felt. Dozens of indie titles published by Adult Swim Games, a subsidiary of Warn Bros. Discovery, have been pulled from marketplaces including Steam and PSN. Some developers, like the creator of Small Radios Big Televisions, announced that after their game got delisted, they would be making it freeware. The studio behind Soundodger+issued a detailed thread on Twitter about what they would be doing to preserve their game after Warner Bros. Discovery refused to budge about delisting their game:
As other devs have shared, I too am affected by Warner Bros Discovery (which ate Adult Swim) removing ALL their games from Steam and consoles.
— bean (@onemrbean) March 7, 2024
Within the next 60 days, Soundodger+ will be removed from Steam. They are refusing to transfer ownership to me.
I sent them the Steam Transfer link, explained that it takes 3 clicks, and they still refused, claiming it would only be fair to transfer no one's games since they can't do them all.
— bean (@onemrbean) March 7, 2024
Soundodger+ remains available on my itch page, and I plan to reupload to Steam. However, new customers won't be able to compare achievements or trade cards with old ones.https://t.co/PYQn3ev8GH
— bean (@onemrbean) March 7, 2024
Once I sign the incoming termination contract, they'll send me one last paycheck, and that will be that.
— bean (@onemrbean) March 7, 2024
Soundodger+ is my best-selling game on Steam, still with an active community making content after 11 years.
Our Discord: https://t.co/hhcJmecXdJ
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