Suicide Squad Failure Not Enough to Scare Warner Bros Off Live Service

Warner Bros. Discovery's new strategy aims to create a consistent revenue stream with an increased focus on two of the most competitive but lucrative spaces in gaming: free-to-play and mobile. Perrette envisions developing live service games that can provide a dynamic, ongoing world for players to inhabit, reminiscent of a similarly immersive experience offered byHogwarts Legacy, albeit with continuous engagement and monetization opportunities.

This pivot towards live service and free-to-play models has been part of its pipeline for at least the better part of the last year, ever since David Zaslav, the CEO, hinted at a shift in focus towards always-on gameplay and multi-platform extensions. The goal is clear: to ensure that players spend more time and, implicitly, more money across a variety of platforms.

Naturally, there's a healthy dose of skepticism surrounding this announcement. Several companies have already backed off from their live service plans, including giants such as Microsoft and Sony. And while EA still seems to be invested in it, there's this feeling that it's only a matter of time before it drops out of the genre as well.

With that said, Warner Bros. Discovery's only successful projects lately have been single-player titles, which begs the question, why?

While live service models offer the potential for an absurd amount of potential revenue and growth, its over-reliance on monetization, often at the expense of game quality and player experience, has made it divisive for most gamers, except in rare occasions like in Helldivers 2, which has been described as an oddity due to several reasons.

With Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions and Monolith Productions' upcoming Wonder Woman Game, among others, both in development, there's genuine concern they'll become microtransaction-heavy titles.

Amidst this uncertainty, what's clear is that the company is committed to exploring live service and mobile with its blockbuster franchises - long-term success be damned.