Warner Bros. Discovery’s gaming boss, J.B. Perrette, recently shared the company’s future gaming strategy during a Morgan Stanley speaking event. The strategy involves a focus on live-service, mobile, and free-to-play games to tap into growth opportunities with their existing intellectual properties and game development capabilities.
While Warner Bros. Discovery has seen success with AAA console games like Hogwarts Legacy, which sold 22 million copies and became the best-selling game of the year, Perrette highlighted the volatility of the gaming market. He pointed out that the company’s recent release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, was a disappointment.
To mitigate this volatility, the company plans to concentrate on core franchises and expand into the mobile and free-to-play space. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery will continue to invest in live-service games to ensure consistent revenue. Perrette also teased the upcoming release of new mobile free-to-play games this year.
Despite the shift towards mobile and free-to-play games, Warner Bros. Discovery remains committed to developing big single-player AAA games. Perrette emphasized the company’s unique position with popular brands such as Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC, as well as having 11 internal game development studios.
Looking ahead, Perrette envisions creating a live-service game around intellectual properties like Hogwarts Legacy and Harry Potter, where players can immerse themselves in an ongoing virtual world. This approach aims to provide an interactive experience for fans to ‘live and work and build and play’ within these beloved universes.
