Warner Bros. Discovery's CEO, David Zaslav, has confirmed in an earnings call that the company is going to keep pushing monetisation and live-service elements for its "biggest franchises", despite attempts in games like and seeing major backlash.
Over the past two console generations, we've seen countless studios pivot to live-service games that aim to keep a player's attention for as long as possible instead of dedicated single-player experiences that can be put down after being finished, despite the latter being dominated by big names like , Warzone, and more.
2023 has seen a ton of live-service games getting taken offline, including ones that have barely had time to c𒆙ook like Knockout City, Rumbleverse, and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.
Although it seems like most studios nowadays are taking that approach, one of the leading studios has been Warner Bros. Interactive. Several of its releases over the past few years like , , Mortal Kombat 1, and 𒈔the upcoming , have clearly been trying to emulate the live-service model and keep players invested and spending for as long as possible.
Despite the hefty amount of backlash that these games h꧂ave gotten for being grindy, expen𒅌sive, and "predatory", it looks like Warner Bros. isn't going to budge and is in fact going to go even harder on the live-service model. This was revealed by the company's CEO, David Zazlav, who spoke on the subject during a Warner Bros. Q3 earnings call.
"Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay t෴hrough live services, multiplatform and fr🔴ee-to-play extensions with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms. Ultimately we want to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels.
During the call, Zazlav noted t♒hat it plans on putting more money into its gaming ventures, but that the approach is going to continue to be focused on emulating live-service games. Zazlav specifically points out that Warner Bros. plans on "tran💛sforming our biggest franchises" into "live services, multiplatform, and free-to-play extensions" to make sure that players are playing the same game for as long as possible.
Zazlav is essentially saying that, despite many players calling for Warner Bros. games to focus less on live-service elements and offer complete experiences, the company is going to keep making the same experiences. All of us hoping that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League's delay was to pull back on the battle pass and s𓂃eaꦿsonal features are about to be disappointed.
