Gone are the days when you could experience all of a game out of the box. Here are the days of live service and it appears Warner Bros. is ready to double down on this content release format.
Whether it’s DC, Harry Potter, or Game of Thrones, the plan is for Warner Bros. to explore some of these hit franchises in a live-service gaming setting, according to CEO David Zaslav in an investor call on Nov. 8.
Zaslav said the Warner Bros. team is focused on taking the company’s biggest franchises and releasing new content via live service, multiplatform, and free-to-play components.
“Ultimately we want to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels,” Zaslav said. “We have put specific capabilities. We are currently under scale and see significant opportunity to generate greater post-purchase revenue.”
It isn’t a controversial take to say that gamers aren’t always so receptive to the live-service game release model. The model played a major role in Marvel’s Avengers game’s fall from grace, and what may have inspired a delay in Warner Bros.’ own Suicide Squad title after its gameplay got decimated with hate earlier this year.
Many of the most loved Warner Bros. titles to this day haven’t had any live-service components. You don’t even need to go back to the Batman: Arkham series to see the success these titles have had. As recently as February, Warner Bros. dropped a certified hit without any live-service components.
That game, Hogwarts Legacy isn’t just a hit for Warner Bros. but it’s one of the highest-selling games of the year and something that will surely be featured in categories at The Game Awards.
Still, Warner Bros.’s new strategy appears to be leaning heavily towards live service, so it remains to be seen if its upcoming titles will find the same success. The first big test for this will be Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League when it lands in 2024, so let’s see how that goes before passing judgment.
