I et indlæg på et Morgan Stanley event, har J.B. Perrette, CEO of global streaming and games hos Warner Bros. understreget, at selskabet i fremtiden vil fokusere på at få nogle af deres største franchises ud til mobile platforme, free-to-play modeller og live-service spil. Målet er at skabe en mere konsekvent indtjening.
"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," siger Perrette.
Warner Bros. har fire veletablerede franchises, som de vil bygge deres gaming business på i fremtiden, nemlig Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, DC og Harry Potter og de har 11 interne udviklings studios (blandt andre Rocksteady, Avalanche Software, TT Games og WB Games) og Perrette forventer at Warner Bros. vil skabe "meningsfyldt vækst" i fremtiden.
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 på det seneste stået bag 2023's største salgshit med Hogwarts Legacy og 2024 måske største kommercielle flop, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, som dog indeholder nogle af de live-service elementer, de vil fokusere mere på i fremtiden. Situationen med de to spil, illustrerer nok meget godt, det usikre AAA-marked, som Warner Bros. vil fokusere mindre på i fremtiden.