Warner Bros. has officially admitted that their latest game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has fallen short of their sales expectations. This comes as no surprise, considering the game received dismal reviews and had low player counts on most platforms. The disappointing performance of Suicide Squad sets Warner Bros. up for a challenging year in the gaming industry, especially when compared to the success of last year’s best-selling game, Hogwarts Legacy.
It’s important to note that the blame for Suicide Squad’s failure cannot be placed solely on Warner Bros. or its CEO, David Zaslav. The game was in development long before Zaslav’s tenure, and reports suggest that Rocksteady, the game’s developer, genuinely wanted to create it. Contrary to rumors, Warner Bros. did not cancel a Superman game to force Rocksteady into making Suicide Squad.
However, Zaslav has taken notice of the success of Hogwarts Legacy and believes that live services are the future of gaming. He sees the potential in maximizing engagement and longer cycles of monetization through live services, multiplatform availability, and free-to-play extensions. Warner Bros. aims to have more players spending more time on multiple platforms, ultimately driving engagement and revenue for longer periods.
The failure of Suicide Squad should serve as a wake-up call for Warner Bros. and Zaslav. Hogwarts Legacy was a dedicated single-player game that fulfilled fans’ desires for a Harry Potter RPG. It had no live aspects or additional monetization beyond the initial purchase price. While it may not receive an expansion, it is likely to receive a sequel.
On the other hand, Suicide Squad represents the opposite approach. It is a live service game that couldn’t even complete its campaign story because it was divided into future seasonal chapters. The game heavily relies on selling cosmetics and will continue to do so indefinitely, with only a few earnable in-game. While Zaslav considers the DC IP valuable, Suicide Squad features characters that players weren’t particularly interested in playing as. It also abandoned the idea of creating standalone single-player games for popular characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman Beyond. These characters could have easily sold millions of copies if the games were on par with the quality of the Arkham trilogy. Unfortunately, Suicide Squad has seen a significant drop in its metascore and has 90% fewer players.
It’s perplexing how Warner Bros. and Zaslav can look at the success of Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad and choose to focus more on the latter’s approach. It’s much easier to sell players on a 20-50 hour game that they can complete and move on from, rather than an endlessly monetized live game that demands excessive amounts of time to keep up with. Moreover, Suicide Squad faces fierce competition from numerous other live games vying for players’ constant attention. If the game fails, Warner Bros. will have already invested a substantial amount of money in additional content that no one will play.
Unfortunately, I have little faith in Warner Bros. or Zaslav to understand this concept. I wouldn’t be surprised if a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy ends up being an online game that sells expensive wizard robes and requires players to grind out battle passes with friends. It seems like madness, but it’s a likely scenario at this point.
In conclusion, Warner Bros.’ admission that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has not met their sales expectations highlights the need for a shift in their gaming strategy. The success of Hogwarts Legacy demonstrates the appeal of dedicated single-player games, while the failure of Suicide Squad underscores the risks of heavily monetized live service games. It remains to be seen whether Warner Bros. and Zaslav will learn from this experience and make the necessary adjustments to their future gaming endeavors.