Warner Bros. reportedly shutting down Shadow of Mordor, MultiVersus, future Wonder Woman game studios

A new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier indicated Warner Bros. is making big cuts to its gaming division, with the media giant and publisher reportedly shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego.

Schreier’s post originally appeared on social media today, but it follows previous reports of trouble for several WB gaming properties. The studios reportedly shut down are anything but unknowns, too. Monolith was responsible for developing both Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, as well as multiple titles in the F.E.A.R. series and a planned Wonder Woman game that Schreier reports is now shut down completely after previously reporting the title was in trouble. Player First developed MultiVersus, the platform fighter that will close up shop this May.

While the closure of a studio after the highly public decline of MultiVersus might not come as a complete shock to some, it’s clear there’s been trouble brewing for WB Games for a while, considering it published one of 2024’s most high-profile failures in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. That venture reportedly cost the publisher a couple hundred million dollars.

The alleged cancellation of the Wonder Woman game and shutdown of Monolith is probably the most surprising bit of information to come out of Schreier’s original report. The studio’s last two games, Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor, were critical and commercial hits, with Shadow of War becoming the top-selling game of October 2017 upon its release. The studio has been under Warner Bros. for over 20 years, and given the success of its single-player Middle-earth ventures, seemed like it could be WB Games’ best antidote to its live-service woes in other titles. On the other hand, it’s now been almost eight years since Monolith’s last release.

According to Schreier, the studio closures are all “in a bid to boost profitability of the division,” which should sound ominous to any gamer who’s been paying attention to the industry over the last couple of years.

If true, this news will almost inevitably end up in more lost jobs and less work for devs. And ultimately, that’s bad for everyone that cares about video games.