Warner Bros. Games Wants To Give Other Studios A Chance On Its Franchises

Warner Bros. Games has revealed plans to license its IP out, given the high interest from third-party developers, as well as the success of games like Hogwarts Legacy.

On a recent investors call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said, “We have 11 studios here, and we have a lot of IP. And 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.”

He continued, “Because as [president of global streaming and games JB Perrette] 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.” Zaslav explained that the success of Hogwarts Legacy was because players were able to immerse themselves into the world, and now Zaslav wants to make video games more of a priority.

Perrette also noted on the call that Warner Bros. is looking to grow in the free-to-play gaming business in order to balance out the cyclical and more hits-based nature of premium console and PC games. As part of that initiative, that’s why Warner Bros. acquired Player First, the developer behind the free-to-play game MultiVersus.

The cyclicality can be seen by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s underperformance, which caused Warner Bros.’ gaming revenue to decrease by 41% when compared to last year, which saw the release of Hogwarts Legacy’s. Still, Warner Bros. is doubling down on live-service games.