Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s massive flop has put a big dent in WB Games‘ finances, contributing to a 41% drop in gaming revenue year-on-year in Q2 2024. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is now looking to license its popular IPs to other studios for games, and “lean heavily” into the free-to-play space, which is currently a major revenue earner for video game companies.
WB has a treasure trove of IPs for games
WB’s president of global streaming and games, JB Perrette, said during an earnings call yesterday that the company’s gaming division had a record year in 2023 due to Hogwarts Legacy, but Suicide Squad’s flop took the business to the “opposite side of that spectrum.”
Perrette added that WB wants to take advantage of the free-to-play space, which accounts for “about half of the $200 billion games business.” WB CEO and president David Zaslav then pointed out that the company has a lot of IPs that other studios are interested in, including — but not limited to — Batman, Superman, and Harry Potter.
“There’s also a lot of interest among others in coming to take advantage of some of that IP for gaming, which we’re looking at,” Zaslav said. “We need to get bigger, and the IP that we own and the value that it has in the gaming space is something we’re looking to take advantage of.”
It was recently reported that WB is looking to sell a stake in its gaming business to avoid a company break-up.