Warner Bros Discovery takes “another $100+ million cut” due to “underperforming” MultiVersus.
In its latest financial call, VGC reports, CEO David Zaslav told investors that its gaming business is “significantly underperforming its potential” despite “four strong and profitable gaming franchises with loyal, global followings”: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones. and DC, “especially” Batman.
As a result, Warner Bros. Discovery has committed to “focus [its] development efforts on these four key franchises with a proven track record of improvement [its] success rate.”
“Results were impacted by games, where we saw an additional $100 million or more written down this quarter due to underperforming versions – primarily MultiVersus – bringing the total year-to-date write-down in our games business to over $300 million, a key factor in this year's decline in the Studios' profit,” said Zaslav.
“In the fourth quarter, we expect games to be flat to slightly better year-over-year as last year's launch of Hogwarts Legacy on Switch in November is offset by lower costs.”
“But even in an industry of hits and misses, we have to recognize that our studio needs to deliver more consistently,” he added. “This relates to our games business, which we recognize is currently significantly underperforming its potential.”