Warner Bros. Discovery has reported a 48% drop in games revenue for Q1 2025, the period ending 31 March 2025. The significant drop has been attributed to a variety of factors, including a lack of major game releases in the last financial quarter.
WBD also cited the “higher carryover” of Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 in the prior year as reasons for the drop, as well as the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. With no major releases to carry the quarter, a drop like this is to be expected. While a lack of game releases did mean significantly decreased expenses for games content and games marketing, this only partially offset higher overhead costs for the company.
In other parts of the business, there were major successes – most notably, A Minecraft Movie grossed nearly USD $900 million worldwide, hoisting up Warner Bros.’ box office performance. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners also contributed to this growth. It’s believed these films will eventually “further enhance” WBD’s offerings in streaming.
As for the company’s games business, it’s not clear what its future holds. As recently as August 2024, WBD was reportedly looking to sell a stake in its games business, or license out its biggest IP, to avoid a larger company breakup. In late 2024, the company admitted its games business was underperforming, and that change was needed to ensure its studios business delivered “more consistently.”
Read: Warner Bros. Discovery shuts three major game studios, cancels Wonder Woman
Seemingly in response to these developments, WBD chose to shut down three of its biggest game studios in February 2025 – Monolith Productions (Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor), Player First Games (MultiVersus), and WB San Diego. Most notably, Monolith Productions was working on a major Wonder Woman game that was accompanied by enthusiastic interest from players.
While reports indicated this game was having some development trouble, the pedigree of Monolith Productions and the strength of the character inspired some hope that these troubles would be resolved, and the game would eventually find its way into the hands of a thirsting audience.
In a world where these challenges were overcome, Wonder Woman may have given hope that Warner Bros. Discovery could salvage its games division. But with this game cancelled, and few confirmed titles on the horizon, it’s not really clear what’s next for the company.
What does the Warner Bros. games slate look like moving forward?
For now, there are no big tentpole games formally announced in the WBD slate. With Mortal Kombat 1 allegedly underperforming, and future DLC allegedly cancelled as a result, the future of this long-running franchise isn’t clear. The definitive failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League also puts future DC games in doubt. While a return to the Arkham formula still has potential – and it appears Batman remains a core focus for Warner Bros. Games – it’s unclear if Rocksteady Studios will be put to this task, given Suicide Squad‘s performance.
A Hogwarts Legacy sequel feels inevitable, given the wild success of the original game, but that could still be several years away. There are also new Game of Thrones titles on the horizons, although it’s fair to say this series isn’t the cultural monolith it once was.
At this stage, it feels more likely that significant change is on the horizon for Warner Bros. Games, whether that means a sell-off, a divestiture, or new plans for licensing IP to third-party studios. For now, plans for this division remain up-in-the-air, and WBD has not made clear what the future holds. We’ll have to stay tuned to see what developments arise in the coming months.
