Are they serious? In the wake of the Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League disaster, Warner Bros. Games has decided to shift AWAY from console games in favor of mobile, free-to-play, and live service titles.
So, Warner Bros. is now just becoming the American version of Tencent?
Despite owning massive, iconic franchises and all of the personnel talent, resources, and competent gaming studios to adapt them into great video games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now called WB Games) has decided to shut up shop on actual video games in favor of mobile games, free-to-play titles, and live service money-suckers in the wake of Suicide Squad: KTJL’s colossal failure. And, if you couldn’t tell, I think this is such a slimy move.
Warner Bros. might very well be the worst run company in the entire world. That’s how stupid the leadership is over there.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was a crap game that deserved all of the criticism it received. That should not be disputed by anyone as the game not only came out with massive bugs, glitches, and seemingly cut content that was never replaced, but it also featured one of the worst storylines in the history of DC video game history.
I mean, who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to have the world of Arkham (aka: the most prestigious and “canonical” DC universe in video games) become overrun by Brainiac, see all of the Justice League members become mind controlled and turned into vicious killers, and then have some of the most obnoxious portrayals of Harley Quinn, Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark go around and brutally butcher the Justice League members.
This isn’t Injustice, Warner Bros. This was the Arkham universe that saw Batman overcome the Joker’s mind games, Scarecrow’s fear toxins, and sacrifice his own identity and reputation to save the city of Gotham from Scarecrow and his goons. And you’re telling me that Batman couldn’t overcome Brainiac and needed to be put down by Harley Quinn? Really?
So, clearly, the game sucked, and it performed terribly. But what did Warner Bros. decide to do to correct this huge disaster?
That’s right, the company’s head of the gaming division, J.B. Perrette, said, “We’re doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities we have on the studio where we’re uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games…Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?”
Excuse me, but, WHAT?!?!?! ARE YOU STUPID?!?!?!
First off, this buffoon, who is in charge of the entire gaming division of Warner Bros., really thinks that console games (which is essentially just saying single player-focused titles) are “one-and-done” games? Has this guy ever actually played a “console game”?
How can one possibly say that playing Elden Ring, Dark Souls, God of War, Skyrim, Crusader Kings, Total War, Super Mario Bros., Baldur’s Gate 3, Mario Kart, The Witcher, The Legend of Zelda, Red Dead Redemption, etc., all of whom can be considered “console/PC titles”, are “one-and-done” games?
That just makes no sense!
(Warner Bros. Games-Hogwarts Legacy-Official Launch Trailer)
What sets these titles apart from the grimy live service, free-to-play, and mobile games is not that you can pick it up for 10-20 minutes here and there and never actually “complete the game”, but rather the replayability, role-play centric stories, and amazing characters and plots that suck you back in time and again.
Sure, the game’s CAN be completed in one playthrough, but the different combinations of endings, storylines, and gameplay can make these games timeless.
And yet Warner Bros. can’t see that? I just don’t know how this company is even functional.
Regardless, what makes this story so much worse than Warner Bros. Games heading full force into the pits of gaming hell is that they’re taking their huge franchises down with them.
As you saw in that quote from J.B. Perrette, Warner Bros. is going to do it’s damnest to market its massive franchises, such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC, The Lord of the Rings, Scooby-Doo, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Matrix, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ace Ventura, etc., into free-to-play and mobile games.
How wonderful as it’s not like Warner Bros. hasn’t already desecrated 3/4ths of these franchises with horrible film and television adaptations, right? Why not add a few cash-grab games too?
Right when you think Warner Bros. has hit the bottom of the barrel of depravity, they show that they can go to a whole new level of stupidity and destruction.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Games) (Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League | Official Justice League Trailer – “No More Heroes” (youtube.com))
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Games) (Hogwarts Legacy – Official Launch Trailer 4K (youtube.com))
