Warner Bros. has made a drastic decision. The Wonder Woman game is dead, and the studios behind Middle-earth and MultiVersus are gone. The company has pulled the plug on Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego.

Bad news for Warner Bros. studios. The entertainment giant has stunned the industry today by canceling its Wonder Woman video game. As if that weren’t enough, the company has also announced the permanent closure of Monolith Productions (Wonder Woman, Middle-earth series, F.E.A.R.), Player First Games (MultiVersus), and WB San Diego.

The news was broken by Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, who shared details on BlueSky after speaking with inside sources at Warner Bros. Shortly after, the company issued a statement to Kotaku explaining its decision: “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around creating the best possible games for our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC, and Game of Thrones.”

The statement continued: “After careful consideration, we will be closing three of our development studios – Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. This is a strategic direction shift and not a reflection of these teams or the talent within them. Development of Monolith’s Wonder Woman video game will not continue. Our hope was to give players and fans the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately, this will no longer be possible with our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision as we recognize Monolith’s history of delivering epic fan experiences through incredible games. We greatly admire the passion of all three teams and thank each employee for their contributions. As difficult as today may be, we remain focused and excited to get back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans developed by our world-class studios, and to drive our video game business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

Internal Memo and Future Strategy

Polygon has obtained an internal email Warner Bros. sent to employees announcing its decision. The letter, signed by Jean-Briac Perrette, CEO and global president of streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, acknowledged that the gaming division has had a “disappointing 2024.” Moving forward, efforts will be focused on the company’s most successful franchises while also exploring revenue opportunities in mobile gaming. The executive emphasized that Warner Bros. is determined to “regain our credibility and confidence in producing great games,” admitting that “the product-market fit and quality of many of our new releases have not really hit the mark.”

Regarding the cancellation of the Wonder Woman game, Perrette commented that the project did not fit “into our strategic priorities.” However, more DC-based video games are expected, “primarily Batman in terms of single-character games, but may include other select opportunities as the new DCU builds out.”

A History of Missteps

Warner Bros. has been struggling in the gaming industry for some time. While it struck gold in 2023 with Hogwarts Legacy, many of its recent projects have failed. Most notably, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperformed commercially, and MultiVersus saw its servers shut down in January.

Source: 3djuegos