Warner Bros. Games will experience a 48% drop in revenues in the first quarter of 2025: will a bet on well-known franchises save the day?
Warner Bros. has published financial results for the first quarter of 2025, which showed a significant drop in revenues in the gaming sector - by 48%. The main reason is the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the lack of new major releases in the reporting period. Will focusing on proven franchises such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC help the company?
Here's What We Know
Revenues of Warner Bros. Games failed to please investors in the first quarter of 2025. The lack of new games and the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which did not meet expectations, led to a significant decline in profits.
However, everything is not so bad. Warner Bros. noted that Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 continue to be profitable. The company also praised the success of Minecraft, which grossed nearly $900 million at the global box office, surpassing the $550 million mark just 10 days after its release.
The total revenue of Warner Bros. in the first quarter of 2025 was $9 billion, which is 9% less than a year earlier.
In February this year, Warner Bros. announced a restructuring programme that included the closure of Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. San Diego. The company called 2024 a "disappointing year" for its gaming segment and stated that the restructuring is aimed at "refocusing resources and capital on proven intellectual assets and games from world-class studios".
Warner Bros. plans to focus its gaming business around four major franchises, each of which has generated more than $1 billion in consumer sales in recent years: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC, especially on top-tier characters such as Batman.
Falling revenues in the gaming segment contributed to the overall decline in Warner Bros. Discovery's overall revenue decline. In the first quarter of 2025, the company received $9 billion in revenue, which is 10% less than in the previous year.
Nevertheless, the streaming video segment showed strong growth: revenue increased by 8% to $2.7 billion, and the total number of subscribers grew by 23% to 122.3 million.
Source: GamesIndustry
