Warner Bros. Discovery is making cutbacks to try to get its games business back on track.
The Warner Bros. Games division is pulling the plug on a “Wonder Woman” title that had been in development for more than three years. The open-world game was in the works at Monolith Productions, which is being shut down along with two others studios — Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. WB Games in July 2024 had acquired Player First Games, the developer of free-to-play platform fighter game “MultiVersus,” which as previously announced is being phased out.
“As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans and developed by our world class studios and getting our Games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond,” a Warner Bros. Games spokesperson said in a statement to Variety.
Warner Bros. had announced the “Wonder Woman” game in December 2021, describing it like this: “The single player open-world action game will introduce an original story set in the DC Universe and allow players to become Diana of Themyscira in the fight to unite her Amazon family and the humans from the modern world.”
The development of Monolith’s Wonder Woman videogame “will not move forward,” the WB Games rep said. “Our hope was to give players and fans the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games.”
It its statement Tuesday, the Warner Bros. Games rep said, “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises — Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones. After careful consideration, we are closing three of our development studios Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them.” The Warner Bros. Games’ restructuring was first reported by Bloomberg.
Last month came word that David Haddad, head of Warner Bros. Games, is leaving the company after 12 years leading the games division.
It was a tough 2024 for Warner Bros. Games, with lackluster performance by “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” compared with the massive success of 2023’s Harry Potter game “Hogwarts Legacy.” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels have both noted the strategy for the games group is to increasingly shift focus away from AAA games to always-on live-services titles and mobile offerings.
For the third quarter of 2024, Wiedenfels said Warner Bros. Discovery took another $100 million-plus impairment charge for the games division due to “underperforming releases,” bringing its total write-down in games to more than $300 million for the year.
