By Brendan Hanney

Things are not looking great for the Warner Bros. gaming division going into 2025, after a year of massive losses for the company. Warner Bros. had many big releases in 2024, many of which underperformed to a degree that has caused ramifications for the rest of the developers under the company’s umbrella. This has led Warner Bros. to reevaluate the future projects currently in development and puts a lot of pressure on high-profile titles.

Warner Bros. has been criticized many times recently for how the leadership of the company has handled projects that it doesn’t see as profitable. Both the Batgirl movie and Coyote vs. Acme was completely shelved before ever releasing, causing a lot of fan backlash from those who were excited to see those films. This same mentality has carried over to video games, with Warner Bros. ending support for two major releases in 2024. The next big release for the company is their Wonder Woman game, which has a lot of pressure to succeed, but might be dealing with the fallout of previous games’ failures.

Warner Bros. Suffered Two Major Losses

What Were Supposed to Be Big Releases Have Both Already Shut Down

The first major release for Warner Bros. in 2024 and the latest game from the acclaimed studio Rocksteady, was Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Taking place in the Arkham universe, players got to control members of the Suicide Squad as they work together to battle against Brainiac and his mind-controlled Justice League clones.

The game unfortunately underperformed for a multitude of reasons. The seasonal format of story beats led many to believe that they were killing the actual members of the Justice League, rather than clones which was revealed later. Many fans were upset that their favorite characters were being “killed” unceremoniously, dropping the game before the reveal that they were still alive.

The game also suffered because it was a live-service looter-shooter, a market that is incredibly hard to break into. This led to the game having its final season recently, with no more planned content to be released for the game.

MultiVersus' director Tony Huynh shares an emotional message with fans about the game's shutdown.

The other major misstep for Warner Bros. was the release (or rerelease) of MultiVersus. What started out incredibly promising turned into one of the most confusing tales in modern gaming. After coming back from an extended downtime after the beta, MultiVersus officially released to mixed reception.

Many fans were happy that the game returned with more characters and content but were disappointed at many of the gameplay and monetization changes. After player counts continued to drop, Warner Bros. finally announced that Season 5 of Multiversus would be the game’s last and the game would be shut down at the end of the season.

Wonder Woman Is Warner Bros.'s Next Hope

Other Studios Are Feeling the Weight of Past Failures

Image via Warner Bros.

In a new report by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, inside sources have stated that Monolith’s Wonder Woman game has had some major roadblocks to its development. The game reportedly has been delayed even further into the future, nowhere close to releasing anytime soon. One of the biggest reasons for its delay is that it has changed directors, with the game development starting over almost from scratch.

After the most recent failures of Warner Bros. gaming division, taking a step back to polish and perfect a game seems like a smart move. The Wonder Woman game has a lot riding on it, both as a game itself, but also for Warner Bros. The company is already pulling back from gaming with fewer releases planned for the future, instead playing it safe to not have any more losses.

Related

Warner Bros. Finally Answers Questions About Upcoming Wonder Woman Game Being Live Service

Recent announcements from Warner Bros. served to quell concerns about the upcoming Wonder Woman game being developed as a live service model.

There are also reports that Rocksteady will be returning to making Batman Arkham games after their previous failure, the safest possible move for the studio to make. With Wonder Woman being the next big title released for the company, it could either be the start of a major comeback or be the final nail in the coffin.

Source: Bloomberg