Warner Bros. Games Faces Turmoil And They Restart Batman Series

From 2024 to 2025, Warner Bros. Games experienced a period of intense turmoil. On the one hand, its once proud Batman: Arkham series is still the benchmark for superhero games; on the other hand, the disastrous failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the operational collapse of MultiVersus, and the mediocre performance of Harry Potter: Quidditch Championship have plunged the veteran publisher into a double crisis of finance and reputation. The latest report by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reveals the pressure of restructuring within Warner, especially after the departure of CEO David Haddad, the development direction of its future projects has been questioned.

Failure Of Warner Games

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

As Rocksteady Studio’s first new work after Batman Arkham trilogy, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was highly anticipated, but it eventually became Warner’s most expensive failure case in recent years. After the launch of this multiplayer cooperative shooting game, it was criticized for its repetitive gameplay, weak plot and technical problems. Steam praise rate has long been hovering at “mixed praise”, and the player churn rate is as high as 95%. According to Bloomberg, the game directly caused Warner to lose $200 million and forced Rocksteady to lay off nearly 60% of its employees, leaving only 15 people on the team.

MultiVersus

Another service-based game, MultiVersus, is also in trouble. This free fighting game that brings together Warner’s IP characters once attracted more than 150,000 concurrent online players with its Brawl mode, but due to weak subsequent updates and poor character balance, the number of online players in the second season plummeted to less than 2,000. Warner eventually set aside more than $100 million in impairment losses and announced the suspension of service in early 2025.

Strategic Misjudgment Of Service-Based Games

Warner executives’ decisions were accused of blindly following industry trends. Rocksteady previously focused on single-player narratives (such as Arkham series), but was forced to turn to multiplayer service-based game development. The team size expanded from 160 to 250 people, and management chaos and lack of experience led to the project getting out of control. Similar problems also plagued other manufacturers, such as Sony’s (Concord), which also died suddenly due to the service-based model and lost $200 million.

Follow-Up Plan

Warner CEO David Zaslav made it clear in the earnings call that the future will focus on four cores: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and DC Universe (especially Batman). Among them, the sequel to Hogwarts Legacy has entered the development stage, and the global sales of the first game exceeded 30 million copies, becoming Warner’s most successful stand-alone work in recent years.

Wonder Woman project developed by Monolith Productions cost more than $100 million, but due to creative differences, it was restarted many times. The original Nemesis system was abandoned and changed to a traditional action-adventure mode, and the release date is far away.

WB Games Montréal, which launched Gotham Knights, is now turning to assisting in the development of a new Game of Thrones game, while the previously planned Constantine game was canceled because of the box office failure of DC movie The Flash.

Besides preparing the sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, Avalanche Software is also preparing DLC and new content. It is expected that players will experience a more complete wizarding world in the near future. In order to ease financial pressure, Warner plans to launch the next-generation upgraded version of Hogwarts Legacy, Lego co-branded games and multiple mobile games in the next two years, trying to maintain cash flow through low-cost projects.

Batman: Arkham

Batman Arkham series (2009-2015) defines the gold standard for superhero games. From the closed narrative of Arkham Asylum to the open world of Arkham Knight, the series has won more than 30 million sales worldwide with a solid combat system, delicate character creation and immersive environment design. In contrast, the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League highlights Warner’s deviation from its own advantages.

After the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Warner quickly adjusted its strategy. Rocksteady has been approved to develop a new Batman single-player game, and may completely bid farewell to Arkham label and start a new storyline. In addition, to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the release of Arkham Asylum, rumors of a remake are rampant, and modern technology may be used to reproduce classic scenes. This may be a good thing for both Warner Games and players. Warner Games’ transformation attempts in recent years have basically failed and have greatly consumed the trust of the fan base greatly. Warner Games is already very familiar with Batman series, and restarting this series may save Warner Games’ few reputations.

According to reports, Sony is actively striving for platform exclusivity for the new Batman game, which may be tailored for PS5 or PS6. If true, this will be another heavy bargaining chip for Sony to consolidate its position in the console market after Final Fantasy 16 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Warner Bros. Games is at a crossroads. From the glory of Batman Arkham to the collapse of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the lessons have profoundly confirmed the importance of not forgetting the original intention. Although it will take several years for the new Batman series of games to meet players officially, the expectations of fans and the attention of the industry have re-lit the signal light for this virtual Gotham City. As Zaslav said: “We must focus on what we are good at.” For Warner Games, Batman series may be the game they are really good at.