WB Games Montreal is making a new live service game. While that sounds like a terrible idea, there could be a reason to be hopeful.
What We Just Learned
WB Games Montreal has a new job opening for an Executive Producer. They give this description:
As an Executive Producer, you will lead the development of a high-quality AAA game based on one of the iconic IPs from the vast Warner Bros. and DC Comics catalog.
ResetERA member est1992 also handpicked the parts of the job opening that confirm it will be a live service title:
- Oversee all phases of development, from concept to post-launch live operations.
- Drive pre-launch activities including marketing, community engagement, and beta testing.
- Oversee post-launch content and live service strategy, ensuring ongoing player engagement.
Why Are Gamers Concerned?
WB Games has a terrible track record with live service games so far. WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav reported to investors that they lost $ 300 million from the failure of only two live service games. Those games are Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and MultiVersus.
WB Games also produced Mortal Kombat games with live service elements for years. However, they made serious mistakes in the live service strategy for its most recent game, Mortal Kombat One. While it was not as huge a failure as Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and MultiVersus, developer NetherRealm Studios still ended their live action support on Mortal Kombat One prematurely.
Is There A Reason To Hope For The Best?
On the surface, there’s not a lot of reason to be hopeful. WB Games does not seem to know how to make live service games. Even worse, David Zaslav will still be CEO of WB Games after WB Games parent company, WB Discovery, finishes their proposed split.
But there are things that have changed since they made those failed live service games. David Haddad, who led WB Games before Zaslav became their CEO, has already left the company. Jason Schreier claimed that it was actually Haddad, not Zaslav, who is to blame for WB Games’ problems.
Haddad’s replacement, JB Perrette, could be a better leader for the gaming division. Schreier says he personally believes Perrette could fix what ails them. Perrette recently promoted the heads of their video game studios. Those studio heads directly answer to Perrette, and they now have a say in what direction the gaming division will go.
This Is What Could Actually Make The Difference
Lastly, we can pin our hopes on DC Studios. James Gunn revealed that DC Studios’ 10 year roadmap, called Gods and Monsters, will include movies, shows, and also video games. That means the recent successful Superman film could have a video game in the future. And actors like Superman’s David Corenswet and Lex Luthor’s Nicholas Hoult will play the same characters in those games.
This live service WB Games Montreal project could be the first DC Studios video game. DC Studios CEO’s James Gunn and Peter Safran just proved that they can revive DC’s characters. But even more than that, they can do it in such a way that will please both older and newer fans and make them popular and mainstream.
We hope the current DC Studios team is studying how to enter into video games in a way that will also make everyone happy to buy and play them. Maybe they won’t be sabotaging themselves with poor decisions anymore. We don’t know if that’s what’s going to happen, but we think that WB Games and DC Studios is going to try.
