When the temperatures rise next summer, you can prepare for sub-zero temperatures in the game:Warner Bros. Games draws a very surprising lesson from the billion-dollar hit Hogwarts Legacy

While Suicide Squad was quite a flop, Hogwarts Legacy sold incredibly well. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. wants to focus on service games

Mobile, Free2Play and service games are the future, the head of Warner Bros. Gaming is convinced, as he revealed during an event

In his article, however, J.B. Perrette cites two games that seem to prove the opposite, namely Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Does that even make sense?

The Harry Potter game doesn’t fit any of these trends: However, as a pure single-player role-playing game with an open world, it was able to set several impressive records last year. For example, it is one of the titles with the most active Steam users worldwide, was one of the best-selling games of 2023 and generated an estimated 2 billion US dollars in revenue for Warner.

Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is considered a flop: At its launch, there were just 13,000 active players on Steam at its peak, now there are only a few hundred. The shooter also had to contend with poor ratings. Warner Bros. itself admitted that the game had not lived up to expectations.

While Perrette acknowledges the success of Hogwarts Legacy and the failure of Suicide Squad, he draws a conclusion that will probably come as a surprise to many: Warner doesn’t want to move away from service games like Suicide Squad now, for example, and focus on single-player experiences.

Instead, the company believes that the market is far too volatile to rely on big productions like these two games. The focus should be much more on mobile, Free2Play and service games

Instead of releasing a big console game, how do we develop a game about, say, Hogwarts Legacy, or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live, work, build and play in that world permanently?

Service games would help Warner Bros. generate reliable revenue as fans play them over the years and spend money on them.

The decision has raised eyebrows across the industry. Insider Tom Henderson describes the decision as an “interesting maneuver” and points to the success of Hogwarts Legacy:

After releasing Hogwarts Legacy which did 22 million units in 1 year and releasing Suicide Squad which failed to meet company expectations, this is sure a move. https://t.co/SQQZ3qMR3b

– Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) March 5, 2024

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella describes the conclusion as a “problem” and points out that it is an enormous challenge to compete with new service games against firmly established giants such as Fortnite, GTA, Minecraft or Roblox:

When a company points out that they believe making the best-selling premium game of the year did not provide enough return to not pivot the franchise that game was based on to f2p/live service… well that’s a problem.

– Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) March 5, 2024

Although service games and especially the microtransactions and battle passes often associated with them are very unpopular with many players, they continue to be extremely successful.

Warner’s reasoning makes this more credible, of course. You can read more about why this gaming trend will probably be with us for some time to come in our reports on the topic linked above

What do you think of Warner Bros’ controversial decision and do you think the change in strategy is understandable after the global success of Hogwarts Legacy? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below

Warner Bros. Games draws a very surprising lesson from the billion-dollar hit Hogwarts Legacy

While Suicide Squad was quite a flop, Hogwarts Legacy sold incredibly well. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. wants to focus on service games

Mobile, Free2Play and service games are the future, the head of Warner Bros. Gaming is convinced, as he revealed during an event

In his article, however, J.B. Perrette cites two games that seem to prove the opposite, namely Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Does that even make sense?

The Harry Potter game doesn’t fit any of these trends: However, as a pure single-player role-playing game with an open world, it was able to set several impressive records last year. For example, it is one of the titles with the most active Steam users worldwide, was one of the best-selling games of 2023 and generated an estimated 2 billion US dollars in revenue for Warner.

Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is considered a flop: At its launch, there were just 13,000 active players on Steam at its peak, now there are only a few hundred. The shooter also had to contend with poor ratings. Warner Bros. itself admitted that the game had not lived up to expectations.

While Perrette acknowledges the success of Hogwarts Legacy and the failure of Suicide Squad, he draws a conclusion that will probably come as a surprise to many: Warner doesn’t want to move away from service games like Suicide Squad now, for example, and focus on single-player experiences.

Instead, the company believes that the market is far too volatile to rely on big productions like these two games. The focus should be much more on mobile, Free2Play and service games

Instead of releasing a big console game, how do we develop a game about, say, Hogwarts Legacy, or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live, work, build and play in that world permanently?

Service games would help Warner Bros. generate reliable revenue as fans play them over the years and spend money on them.

The decision has raised eyebrows across the industry. Insider Tom Henderson describes the decision as an “interesting maneuver” and points to the success of Hogwarts Legacy:

After releasing Hogwarts Legacy which did 22 million units in 1 year and releasing Suicide Squad which failed to meet company expectations, this is sure a move. https://t.co/SQQZ3qMR3b

– Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) March 5, 2024

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella describes the conclusion as a “problem” and points out that it is an enormous challenge to compete with new service games against firmly established giants such as Fortnite, GTA, Minecraft or Roblox:

When a company points out that they believe making the best-selling premium game of the year did not provide enough return to not pivot the franchise that game was based on to f2p/live service… well that’s a problem.

– Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) March 5, 2024

Although service games and especially the microtransactions and battle passes often associated with them are very unpopular with many players, they continue to be extremely successful.

Warner’s reasoning makes this more credible, of course. You can read more about why this gaming trend will probably be with us for some time to come in our reports on the topic linked above

What do you think of Warner Bros’ controversial decision and do you think the change in strategy is understandable after the global success of Hogwarts Legacy? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below

Warner Bros. Games draws a very surprising lesson from the billion-dollar hit Hogwarts Legacy

While Suicide Squad was quite a flop, Hogwarts Legacy sold incredibly well. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. wants to focus on service games

Mobile, Free2Play and service games are the future, the head of Warner Bros. Gaming is convinced, as he revealed during an event

In his article, however, J.B. Perrette cites two games that seem to prove the opposite, namely Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Does that even make sense?

The Harry Potter game doesn’t fit any of these trends: However, as a pure single-player role-playing game with an open world, it was able to set several impressive records last year. For example, it is one of the titles with the most active Steam users worldwide, was one of the best-selling games of 2023 and generated an estimated 2 billion US dollars in revenue for Warner.

Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is considered a flop: At its launch, there were just 13,000 active players on Steam at its peak, now there are only a few hundred. The shooter also had to contend with poor ratings. Warner Bros. itself admitted that the game had not lived up to expectations.

While Perrette acknowledges the success of Hogwarts Legacy and the failure of Suicide Squad, he draws a conclusion that will probably come as a surprise to many: Warner doesn’t want to move away from service games like Suicide Squad now, for example, and focus on single-player experiences.

Instead, the company believes that the market is far too volatile to rely on big productions like these two games. The focus should be much more on mobile, Free2Play and service games

Instead of releasing a big console game, how do we develop a game about, say, Hogwarts Legacy, or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live, work, build and play in that world permanently?

Service games would help Warner Bros. generate reliable revenue as fans play them over the years and spend money on them.

The decision has raised eyebrows across the industry. Insider Tom Henderson describes the decision as an “interesting maneuver” and points to the success of Hogwarts Legacy:

After releasing Hogwarts Legacy which did 22 million units in 1 year and releasing Suicide Squad which failed to meet company expectations, this is sure a move. https://t.co/SQQZ3qMR3b

– Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) March 5, 2024

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella describes the conclusion as a “problem” and points out that it is an enormous challenge to compete with new service games against firmly established giants such as Fortnite, GTA, Minecraft or Roblox:

When a company points out that they believe making the best-selling premium game of the year did not provide enough return to not pivot the franchise that game was based on to f2p/live service… well that’s a problem.

– Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) March 5, 2024

Although service games and especially the microtransactions and battle passes often associated with them are very unpopular with many players, they continue to be extremely successful.

Warner’s reasoning makes this more credible, of course. You can read more about why this gaming trend will probably be with us for some time to come in our reports on the topic linked above

What do you think of Warner Bros’ controversial decision and do you think the change in strategy is understandable after the global success of Hogwarts Legacy? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below

11 bit Studios has revealed the

release date of Frostpunk 2 as part of the

Xbox Partner Preview The sequel to the survival strategy game released in 2018 has been in development for some time, but it was only at the start of the new year that the Polish developer slowly lifted the veil of secrecy. And you’ll soon be able to get your hands on it yourself, in some cases even sooner than expected.

Frostpunk 2: Release and beta date revealed

According to the recently released trailer

Frostpunk 2 will be released on July 25, 2024, initially exclusively for PC A console version will also follow at a later date, but this does not yet have a fixed release date. If you still want to pre-order a separate version, you can do so from today. In addition to the Standard Edition, there is also a Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes seven days of beta access in April (including part of the sandbox mode), three DLCs after the release of the base game, 72 hours of early access to the story campaign, the digital novella “Warm Flesh” as well as a digital artbook and soundtrack.

New challenges and decisions

In terms of gameplay, Frostpunk 2 remains true to the strengths of its predecessor, but aims to build on them even further. As the magistrate of a city, you must fight for its survival in an icy apocalypse and regularly make important decisions. A new feature is the introduction of various factions within the city walls that vie for the favor of the population. It is up to you which representatives you work with, but you will have to live with the consequences.