Image: Warner Bros. Games
Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly considering selling a stake in its gaming division.
Warner Bros. Discovery is not in the best financial shape, to say the least. In the company’s newly-released Q2 2024 earnings report, it revealed that its gaming revenue went down a whopping 41% mostly due to the weak performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
The company also reported a net loss of $10 billion after undervaluing its TV networks and is now considering selling a stake in its gaming division to help reverse a massive decline in stock prices.
Warner Bros. Games reports revenue loss due to Suicide Squad
In its Q2 2024 earnings report, Warner Bros. Discovery stated that its gaming revenue had declined by 41% compared to Q2 2023, primarily due to the commercial underperformance of Rocksteady Games’ shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. However, the company also noted that this massive revenue drop also comes down to the comparatively strong performance of Hogwarts Legacy in Q2 2023.
Where Hogwarts Legacy managed to secure strong sales throughout the year of its release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League didn’t get off to a flying start and only declined over time in revenue. In May 2024, the company reported a net loss of $200 million due to the game’s underperformance.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn’t the only thing troubling Warner Bros. Discovery this quarter, however. The company also reported a massive net loss of $10 billion in Q2 2024, after overestimating the value of its TV networks by some $9.1 billion. This loss is chalked up to an “on-cash goodwill impairment charge from the Networks segment,” with the company’s loss of NBA broadcasting rights being one factor of its downturn.
According to The Financial Times, the company is now considering selling off a stake in its gaming division Warner Bros. Games, in the hopes of reversing an almost 70% decline in stock price since the 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. Warner Bros. Games has around 12 game studios under its umbrella, including Monolith Productions (Middle-Earth: Shadow of War), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat 1), Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy) and, of course, Rocksteady Studios (Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League).