Warner Brothers' games division wants to focus less on “volatile” Tripe-A games in the future. That might surprise some people, because Hogwarts Legacy, as a classic triple-A game with a campaign, did very well economically. Nevertheless, management believes, as they explained to guests at an event at the investment bank Morgan Stanley, that AAA games are not the future of Warner. They want to focus more on markets with “better growth” and name Free 2 Play and Mobile as segments.
“We're increasingly betting on games as an area where we see a lot of growth potential that we can unlock with the existing intellectual property rights and some of the capabilities that we have in the studio. We're uniquely positioned, both as a publisher and as a developer of “Play,” said JB Perrette, gaming boss at WB Discovery. This should come as even more of a surprise to observers, as buying Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is probably not a sure-fire success despite relatively good grades.
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In any case, Parrette wants to move away from AAA games on the console (and the PC) because, in his view, the success of publications like Hogwarts Legacy is not guaranteed. He considers this market to be “volatile.” The plan for the future is therefore to reduce the dependence on this “volatility” by focusing on the most important franchises and bringing at least some of them into mobile and F2P, as well as continuing into live service games to invest in games that are played over a long period of time and on which you spend money.
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Parrette is hoping for a more homogeneous revenue stream and is relying on live service: “Instead of just publishing a one-off console game, how can we develop a game about, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, which is a live service in which people in this world live, work, build and play, continuously?”
But you don't want to completely bury AAA games just yet, because after all you also have a few good brands in your program. Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC Comics (aka Batman), Game of Thrones and some more. There is a “strategic investment plan” for these games to make the titles more likely to be successful. To the extent that the plan can be implemented, Parrette is hoping for good growth for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027, since there are no license fees to pay for the brands. This strategic advantage should be used.
Quelle: Morgan Stanley