Hogwarts Legacy was a title with much popularity and acclaim from gamers and reviewers alike. The immersive world of Hogwarts made for one of the most lived-in RPG words in recent times. Not just fans of the Wizarding World, but gamers with little to no clue about Harry Potter could go into the game and have a good time without feeling out of place.
The trend of live-service games has been prevalent, despite some titles crashing and burning. We also saw many developers try the formula and revert to developing games without the live-service element. While WB Games is still not at the level of companies focusing solely on games, 2023 was an excellent year for its gaming ventures.
WB’s 2023 Success With Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1
Variety recently reported on the company’s game plan by talking to its executives. And it seems inevitable that the company wants to ensure it can dominate the gaming industry. The WB Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, is confident about the company’s gaming endeavors. As per him, the return on investment (ROI) provided by the company’s gaming ventures is among the highest in any of the studio’s businesses.
It makes sense because Warner Bros. operates on many levels, focusing on entertainment using almost every medium known and followed by the masses. The four IPs that the company owns each amount to 1 billion USD each. They include Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC, and Mortal Kombat.
Talking to Variety, the President of Warner Bros. Interactive, the company’s subsidiary focusing on video games, said that:
There’s a unique and important role games have in keeping our franchises relevant, resonant and exciting, because there’s plenty of fans and plenty of people consuming content where games are their starting point.
The latest Mortal Kombat title, Mortal Kombat 1, sold 3 million copies in 2023. And Hogwarts Legacy, based on the Harry Potter IP, was the best-selling game of last year, as per Warner Bros. Hogwarts Legacy even beat Modern Warfare 3. The company is also determined to minimize its post-merger debt, and it seems like the gaming router is the one it is going with.
The company’s CFO commented on how the games based on the company’s IPs are emerging successfully and said:
I’ve double- and triple-checked some of the metrics here because it’s such a great investment opportunity…[I am] stunned that we haven’t been investing more into this opportunity. We’re going to start tackling that…
The company’s executives also stated how they plan on scaling their gaming ventures and want to ensure that they don’t stay dormant. This is mainly because the industry is booming, and it is an excellent time to double down.
WB Exec on How the Company Plans to Replicate the Success of Hogwarts Legacy by Scaling in the Future
As mentioned earlier, the company’s executives seem confident about ensuring that all systems go in the quest to establish dominance in the multi-hundred-billion gaming industry. Talking to Variety, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO of global streaming and gaming, JB Perette, said:
We want it to be ‘always on.’ And the good news is the gaming space is lending itself to that.
This indicated the gaming industry’s recent trend of switching to live-service titles that are supported for four to five years. This includes titles purchased by gamers and those that are free to play but make profits using microtransactions. This also includes titles released not just for PCs and consoles but also for mobile phones.
This ensures that the IP reaches places where the average gamer doesn’t have access to well-built PCs and premium consoles but can afford a budget smartphone, enabling them to play on the go. The company is awaiting the release of a live-service title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
The game comes out on February 2. It would be interesting to see how it performs, especially compared to games that weren’t live-service, like Hogwarts Legacy, and focused on a single-player experience instead of a co-op one.
What do you think of live-service titles? Do you think they offer more value than games based on the traditional support and release timeline? Let us know in the comments below.
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