Warner Bros. want live service games to become the norm.
Warner Bros. want live service games to become the norm
The company revealed it was looking to release “more than just one great hit every three or four years” in the form of “always on” titles for their franchises like ‘DC’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Harry Potter’.
In an interview with Variety, Warner Bros. gaming and streaming boss J.B. Perette said: “We want it to be 'always on’.
“And the good news is the gaming space is lending itself to that.”
Warner Bros. Interactive boss David Haddad added that the entertainment conglomerate felt it was important to ensure their franchises stayed “relevant, resonant and exciting”, which would be achieved through live service games.
He said: "A very consistent message coming from the executive layer of Warner Bros. Discovery is the importance of franchises.
"There's a unique and important role games have in keeping our franchises relevant, resonant and exciting, because there's plenty of fans and plenty of people consuming content where games are their starting point.
"When you ask what our goals are, it's really that macro goal of making sure that we get as much engagement and time with the fans as possible.”
Unfortunately, their “always on” approach for ‘DC’ has not got off to a good start, with ‘Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’ having to be pulled from stores hours after it was released, once it was found that the title included a glitch that allowed players to complete the game immediately.
Despite the technical problems, Warner Bros. have insisted that live service titles are the future of gaming, and also emphasised that they wanted to tie games closer to their movies, something that ‘DC’ chairman James Gunn is keen to do.
Perette said: "Frankly, there hasn't been as close a relationship between the studio and the games business as there should have been.
”And James [Gunn] is actually a gamer, so having someone who's passionate about it is super helpful."
Tagged in James Gunn