Multiversus is in a bad situation as Warner Bros. blames it for a $100-million write-down. 'It's not been pretty'

"Hey, kid--Psst! You want to buy some... um... some Smash Bros. style brawler featuring a bunch of cartoon characters? What about a Harley Quinn live service game? Where ya goin' kid, hey kid I'm talking! " So begins the first scene in my unpublished script, "Warner Bros. Has a Rough 2024 in Games," which opens with panicked people fleeing from the WB executive suites as the suits pursue them, their pockets bulging at the sight of unsold pre-order bonus.

WB Games' $200 million loss on Suicide Squad is eye-watering, but the Multiversus saga has also caused a huge dent to the balance sheet.

Warner Bros. held a conference call to discuss the company's recent results. Discovery's president and CEO David Zaslav, along with Gunnar Wiedenfels, chief financial officer, said that the $200-million writedown was now a $300-million writedown and placed the blame squarely at Multiversus.

Widenfels said, "We took another 100 million plus impairment this quarter due to the underperforming release, primarily MultiVersus," (thanks to IGN). "Bringing total writedowns year-to date to over $300 millions in our games business. This is a key reason for this year's studio profits decline."

Zaslav wanted to reassure those who held shares that WB "recognises [the games business] substantially underperforms its potential right now." The revenue for this quarter was down 31% compared to the previous year, not least because Hogwarts legacy is on track to become the top-selling game in the world by 2023.

Zaslav stated on the same call that WB will "focus our development efforts to those core franchises with proven studios in order to improve our success rate." Rocksteady is a proven studio in my opinion, but what the heck. He identified four franchises: DC ("in particular Batman") Hogwarts Legacy Mortal Kombat and Game of Thrones.

Zaslav says: "We have four games which are very powerful. We will stop trying to launch 10,12,15 different games. I think that we have a good chance to stabilize the gaming industry with a focus on what's important.

Rocksteady may have been moved to Hogwarts Legacy after the commercial failure of Suicide Squad became apparent. One would hope that WB, no matter how bad the Suicide Squad misstep was, will do the right thing and have Rocksteady create another top-notch singleplayer Batman title.

Multiversus, on the other hand, hasn't done itself any favors. The free-to play brawler was released in a strange way. It was first available in early access and beta versions in 2022. After that, Player First Games pulled the title off the market, and then relaunched the game in May of this year after significant reworks. Warner Bros., which acquired Player First Games almost immediately in July , seemed to be the only one with enthusiasm.

Multiversus is cross platform, so there are no accurate player counts available. However, it's clear that things aren't going as planned. Player First Games announced a new feature, Fighter Road, that will allow players to earn all characters free. This was one of the biggest complaints from players. It's always possible to make a comeback. When the bosses start pointing fingers at you and suddenly your name is on the list, it's time to worry.