Warner Bros. focuses on mobile and free-to-play games instead of unstable console AAA games
Warner Bros. Discovery’s game boss J.B. Perrette wants the company to move away from the volatile AAA console game market, Gamespot reports.
During his speech at the Morgan Stanley event, Perrett said that the company is changing its strategy and will focus on gaming services, free-to-play, and mobile games.
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.
The change in direction is caused by the instability and so-called “volatility” (changes in market prices and revenues over time – ed.) of the big-budget gaming sector.
The company is pleased with the success of Hogwarts Legacy, which has sold 22 million copies, but at the same time, the company is disappointed with the results of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Therefore, the plan for the future is to reduce the impact of volatility. The company will focus on its core franchises and bring at least some of them to the mobile and free-to-play space, as well as continue to invest in game services.
This will help WBD generate more stable revenue. Perrett said that the company already has several ready-made mobile projects that will appear later this year.
It is also worth noting that the fact that WBD can enter new markets does not necessarily mean that it will stop creating large 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?” Perrette said.
He continued that WBD is uniquely positioned as it owns popular brands – he singled out Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC as the biggest – as well as 11 different development studios.
If WBD can execute on this plan, Perrett expects games to bring significant growth to the company in the coming years. But creating games takes time, so Perrett cautioned that the company is now laying the foundation for the profits that could come in 2025, 2026, and 2027.
Perrett also said that he has no idea how the gaming industry will evolve over time, but he believes that owning intellectual property and studios can help WBD succeed where others cannot. He also cited things like virtual reality and virtual worlds as places that will increase in scale and user acceptance in the future.