Thanks in part to strong sales of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery likely won't impact Warner Bros. Games in the near future.
Warner Bros. Discovery's financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 are causing a stir this week, given that they follow cuts to the company's HBO Max streaming platform and the surprise cancellation of film projects like Batgirl.
As the impacts of a major corporate media merger have rolled out, there's been questions about if Warner Bros. Games—the interactive entertainment arm of Warner Bros. Discovery—will be impacted by changes in the company's business strategy. Now we know the division is likely safe for the time being.
Warner Bros. Discovery didn't offer any key metrics on the success of Warner Bros. Games, but the branch earned a tip of the cap in its earnings report and on a conference call with investors. It noted that games were a "strong contributor" to the revenue provided by content studios owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. That segment contains DC Comics, Warner Bros. Television Group New Line Entertainment, Warner Animation Group, and Warner Bros. Studios.
In the three-month period ending June 30, 2022, the studios segment of Warner Bros. Discovery earned about $2.8 billion in revenue. The company overall earned $9.8 billion in revenue, and saw a net loss of $3.4 million.
Details on what parts of Warner Bros. Games performed well were thin, but the main game credited was LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. In April, the company reported that the TT Games-developed title sold 3.2 million copies in just two weeks, a high-water mark for the studio's LEGO games.
Earlier today, MultiVersus game director Tony Huynh stated that shake-ups at the corporation were not impacting the development of Player First Games' fighting game, which recently entered open beta.
Warner Bros. Games is also publishing Back 4 Blood, Harry Potter action RPG Hogwarts Legacy and Harry Potter collectible card game Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. It also houses Netherrealm Studios and Monolith Productions. Netherrealm Studios is the company behind the Mortal Kombat series, and Monolith Productions is working on a Wonder Woman-themed game, having just wrapped up years of work on the Middle-earth series.
That's a long way of saying that any shifts to Warner Bros. Discovery's video game division would have ripple effects across the video game industry. Though today's announcement is a lot of "no news is good news," changes in the company strategy could eventually hit the video game division.
In 2020, former Warner Bros. Games owner AT&T even considered selling the division. It reversed course on that idea just a few months later.
You May Also Like
