In a statement, WB said it had “to make some difficult decisions” regarding its gaming studios. Instead of finishing Wonder Woman, the company promises to build the “best games possible with our key franchises—Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game Of Thrones.” Wonder Woman isn’t included in any of that because, in a letter to employees from JB Perrette, the CEO and president of global streaming and games for WBD, obtained by Polygon, the studio will focus “primarily on Batman when it comes to single character-led games but may include select other opportunities as the new DCU gets built.” Don’t worry about the employees losing their jobs because Perrrette also promises to” repurpose our talent where possible” and reassign employees to open roles at a company with fewer jobs than it had yesterday. But as Aftermath points out, this latest bloodletting is par for the course at WBD. The company’s quarterly earnings update is this week, and nothing excites WBD’s shareholders more than lay-offs, tax write-downs, and the words Harry Potter.
Like much of WBD’s business, the company’s video game division has been struggling with mismanagement for some time now. Last year, the studio’s most prominent releases, including Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, and MultiVersus, bombed with the public, and WBD ended support for Suicide Squad and MultiVersus shortly after. Meanwhile, the Wonder Woman game was lassoed in development hell. Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier reports that after spending over $100 million on the game, the studio “rebooted and switched directors” in early 2024. Earlier this year, David Haddad, head of the division, stepped down, leaving the beleaguered division in terrible shape. Though it’s arguably in worse shape now, we’re certain shareholders will love hearing that WBD now makes fewer products, with fewer resources, and wasted millions of dollars on a game it’ll never release.
