Poor Suicide Squad sales continue to drag down WB Games

WB Games is considering a switch to licensed games, as the trials and tribulations of live-service game development continue to take a toll on the company's financials. The low performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has led to a sharp drop in year-on-year revenue. 

WB Games confirmed in its Q2 2024 earnings report that games revenue has dropped by 41 percent compared to Q2 2023. The company isn't shy about the reason why either, stating that the downturn is “primarily driven by the weak performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League”.

While WB Games had a huge year in 2023, with Hogwarts Legacy going on to be the top-selling game worldwide, 2024 has already seen the company lose $200 million on the release of Suicide Squad.

Interestingly, WB executives were much less bullish on ‘live service' games during this earnings report, but a shift to free-to-play games and the introduction of a new IP licensing model could replace those previous ambitions.

The future status of Suicide Squad and the Rocksteady studio is still uncertain. Very few studios survive such a huge miss.

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KitGuru Says: You'll get away with a lot more in terms of paid cosmetics and seasonal passes in the free to play market. When it comes to premium games, it is clear fans of IP like DC and Harry Potter would much rather spend on a well-made single-player game like Hogwarts Legacy or Batman: Arkham Knight, rather than a grindy time-sink like Suicide Squad. 

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