Warner Bros Discovery says its games division is “substantially underperforming”

Warner Bros Discovery has taken “another $100+ million impairment” due to the “underperforming” MultiVersus.

In its latest financial call, as reported by VGC, CEO David Zaslav told investors its games business was “substantially underperforming its potential” despite “four strong and profitable game franchises with loyal, global fans”: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and DC, “in particular” Batman.

Consequently, Warner Bros Discovery has committed to “focusing [its] development efforts on those four core franchises with proven studios to improve [its] success ratio.”

“Results were impacted by games, for which we took another $100+ million impairment due to the underperforming releases – primarily MultiVersus – this quarter, bringing total writedown year-to-date to over $300 million in our games business, the key factor in this year’s Studios profit decline,” Zaslav said.

“In Q4, we expect games to be flat to modestly better year-over-year, as last year’s launch of Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch platform in November is offset by lower costs.”

“But even in an industry of hits and misses, we must acknowledge that our studio business must deliver more consistently,” he added. “This applies to our games business, which we recognise is substantially underperforming its potential right now.”