MultiVersus is underperforming, but Warner Bros. is still focused on IP

digitaltrends.com:

Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed that its free-to-play fighting game MultiVersushas underperformed, along with the rest of its video game division, as it announced two new characters coming to the character crossover brawler on Thursday.

As reported by IGN, MultiVersus has contributed another $100 million to the already $200 million write-down from earlier this year after Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which launched to poor reviews, sold less than the company expected. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed in a recent earnings call that the games division has been “substantially underperforming.” However, he added that the company has four brands that it’ll focus on: Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC (Batman in particular got a shoutout).

Warner Bros. Discovery only released one new game in the most recent financial quarter — Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions — but it’s been supporting games like Mortal Kombat 1 and MultiVersus, along with reportedly developing a Hogwarts Legacydirector’s cut. The single-player Harry Potter simulator was the top-selling game of 2023, so the company wants to lean further into that IP, with a sequel set to align with the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series.

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“We’re through some of the worst — and it hasn’t been pretty on the gaming business — but we have four games that are really powerful and have a real constituency that love them, and we’re going to focus on those four primarily,” Zaslav said. “We’re going to go away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games. I think we have a real chance now with focus to have the gaming business be steadier.”

The earnings call comes on the same day that