Warner Bros to expand its game IPs to live service and free-to-play

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Warner Bros Discovery's newest earnings report revealed that its Q3 revenue increased by 2% year-on-year to $10 billion, but the firm also intends to expand its games to live and free-to-play offerings.

The plan was shared during its earnings call by CEO David Zaslav, as he took note of the quarter's performance for games.

He said, "Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with [three to four] year release schedules to include more 'always on' gameplay through live services, multi-platform and free-to-play extensions. With the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms.

"Ultimately, we [want to] drive engagement and monetization over longer cycles and at higher levels where for specific capabilities, we are currently under scale and see significant opportunity to generate greater post-purchase revenue."

During the earnings call, Zaslav shared that Mortal Kombat 1, released on September 14, has sold nearly 3 million units.

Additionally, Warner Bros' third quarter report said, "Games revenue increased meaningfully due to the Q3 release of Mortal Kombat 1 and continued performance of Hogwarts Legacy."

Regarding Hogwarts Legacy's sales performance, back in May the title has already sold 15 million units globally and earned $1 billion in revenue.

During the call, Zaslav also said that "games are a critical and valuable asset" to the company.