Warner Bros aims to increase focus on free-to-play and live service games because 'disappointments' like Suicide Squad make the big-budget business 'very volatile'

Speaking at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Warner Bros Discovery executive JB Perrette said the company wants to expand more into free-to-play and live service games in order to avoid the «volatile» ups and downs of big-budget game releases.

It has indeed been a volatile year for Warner. The company rode into 2023 on the success of Hogwarts Legacy, «the best selling game of the year in the entire industry worldwide,» but a year later Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failed to live up to expectations, a stumble Warner said left its games business facing «a tough year-over-year comp» in its first financial quarter. Tough enough, apparently, to force a shift in long-term strategy.

«Our business historically has been very triple-A console-based,» Perrette said near the end of his session. «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 is not as strong—it just makes it very volatile.»

Perrette said Warner wants to take a more «holistic approach» with its four core franchises—Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC—with a particular focus on «expanding into the mobile and multi-platform free-to-play space, which could give us a much better and more consistent set of revenue.» To that end, Warner has a number of free-to-play mobile games set to roll out later this year.

Despite the growing exhaustion in some quarters with the live-service model, it also figures prominently in Warner's plans: «Rather than just launching a 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 in and live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?»

It's a long-term plan, but Perrette said Warner's ownership of those four major