Warner Bros. Discovery intends to use its intellectual property to release more video games based on its biggest franchises, the company said during its second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. In addition to developing games in-house, Warner Bros. is also looking to license its IP to other studios. Warner Bros.’ Hogwarts Legacy, based on the company-owned Wizarding World IP, is the best-selling game of 2023, but few WB properties are fully utilized in the gaming medium.
During the Q&A portion of Warner Bros. Discovery’s second-quarter 2024 earnings call (first reported by IGN), CEO David Zaslav said there was “very strong interest” in turning Warner Bros. IP into video games from outside parties. “We have 11 studios here and we have a lot of IP,” Zaslav said by phone. “Others are also interested in leveraging some of the gaming IP we are considering,” he added.
JB Perette, CEO and president of global streaming and gaming, also said Warner Bros.’ franchises are “in high demand” and can help launch new games. The executive also noted that the free-to-play space is a focus area for the company, which has seen mixed results for its triple-A first-party games.
Last year, “Hogwarts Legacy,” based on the popular Harry Potter series, sold more than 22 million copies, becoming the top-selling game of 2023. However, in 2024, Warner Bros. Games released “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” but the game proved to be a critical and commercial failure, causing Warner Bros. Game sales to drop 41%. Game revenue in the second quarter of 2024.
“You still need a great game, and the reality is… in just 12 months, we went from a record year with Hogwarts Legacy in 2023 to the unfortunate opposite of Suicide Squad,” Perrette said during the earnings call.
Zaslav and Perrette were responding to questions about the “uneven performance” of Warner Bros. games over the past few years, the “strategic value” of video games to the group and whether the group sees games as a core part of its vast portfolio.
While Warner Bros. Games, part of the group’s global streaming and interactive entertainment unit, has released games based on popular Warner Bros. franchises such as “Batman” and “Harry Potter,” some of its biggest properties, such as “Game of Thrones” and “Superman,” remain underutilized in the interactive medium.
Zaslav said the company needs to change that and maximize the potential of its IP as a video game. “…We need to get bigger and the intellectual property we have and its value in gaming is something we want to leverage,” he said in response to a query.
During its third-quarter earnings call in November 2023, Warner Bros. said it would transition its biggest franchises to live-service titles with a focus on extending the lifespan of their releases. “Ultimately, we want to drive longer cycles and higher levels of engagement and monetization,” Zaslav said at the time. “We currently don’t have enough scale and see a huge opportunity to generate greater post-purchase revenue.”
WB made its biggest bet on the live service model earlier this year when it released Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with plans to release content after launch. However, the game was criticized for its live service model, and poor sales cost Warner Bros. $200 million. In our own review, we felt the game was undermined by the decision to abandon Rocksteady’s expertise in single-player narrative games.
However, in March, Warner Bros. reiterated its commitment to the game’s live service model despite Suicide Squad’s subpar critical and commercial performance.