Warner Bros Sees 53% Drop in Gaming Revenue in 2024

Warner Bros, the entertainment powerhouse, has announced a significant 53% drop in revenue from its gaming division in 2024. This was disclosed in their SEC 10-K filing, which also showed an overall 8% decline in content revenue, largely attributed to the substantial dip in games revenue.

In the final quarter of 2024 alone, Warner Bros experienced a 29% decrease in games revenue compared to the same period the previous year. The company explains this decline by pointing to the excitement in 2023 when blockbusters like “Hogwarts Legacy” and “Mortal Kombat 1” were launched. However, it’s worth noting that their 2024 lineup, featuring titles like “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” and “MultiVersus,” didn’t quite hit the mark.

Just this week, Warner Bros announced the closure of studios like Monolith, Player First, and their San Diego studio, signaling a significant shift. “We mentioned before that 2024 didn’t meet our expectations for the Games segment,” Warner Bros stated in a letter to its shareholders, “and we’ve unveiled a restructuring plan designed to pivot our focus back to tried-and-true IPs and productions from top-tier studios.”

Their revamped strategy zooms in on four major franchises that have historically brought in over a billion in sales: “Harry Potter,” “Game of Thrones,” “Mortal Kombat,” and key DC characters like Batman. They pointed to the success of “Hogwarts Legacy” in 2022, which not only launched a new gaming franchise but also topped the sales charts that year—a feat few have achieved in the past decade and a half.

Warner Bros is optimistic that this strategic pivot will enable them to craft high-quality games that foster long-term engagement. They are confident that this approach will return their Games division to profitability by 2025, setting the stage for a more substantial contribution to the company’s growth moving forward.