Warner ska fokusera mer på mobil, free-to-play och live service

J.B. Perrette, VD för global streaming och spel hos Warner Bros talade nyligen vid ett Morgan Stanley-event och betonade att bolaget i framtiden kommer fokusera mer på att lansera några av sina största varumärken till mobila plattformar, free-to-play och live service-spel. Målet är att skapa en mer konsekvent intäktsgenerering:

"The challenge we've had is that our business historically there has been very triple-A console based and so, as you know, that's a great business when you have a hit like Harry Potter, it makes the year look amazing, and then when you don't have a release or unfortunately, we also have disappointments - we just released Suicide Squad this quarter which was not as strong - it just makes it very volatile."

Warner Bros har fyra väletablerade varumärken som man tänker bygga sin spelverksamhet på i framtiden, nämligen Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, DC och Harry Potter, och har elva egna utvecklingsstudior (inklusive Rocksteady, Avalanche Software, TT Games och WB Games) och Perrette förväntar sig att Warner Bros kommer att skapa "meningsfull tillväxt" i framtiden:

"We think the opportunity for us, which again, this a multi-year [opportunity], because games is certainly a bit of a long cycle business too, but the opportunity is to take those four franchises and be able to develop a much more holistic approach, particularly around expanding into the mobile and multiplatform free-to-play space, which could give us a much better and consistent set of revenue, and you'll see us launching later this year some mobile free to play games, which we hope will start building that.

And then secondarily live services, so rather than just launching a kind of one and done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can come today and live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?"

Warner Bros har släppt enormt populära singleplayer,spel senaste åren såsom Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga och ovan nämnda Hogwarts Legacy, medan deras live service-satsningar som Back 4 Blood, Gotham Knights och Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League har floppat. Trots det har de nu alltså landat i att det är traditionella spel de måste dra ner på, för att utöka satsningarna på titlar i kategorier som inte gått bra.