Warner Bros. Discovery announced in its earnings conference that the game “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League'' caused the company to lose $200 million.
During the Q1 2024 earnings call, investors heard from President and CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
Zaslav was the first to deliver the bad news, saying that “unfortunately'' the studio's first-quarter financials reflected “the great performance of Hogwarts Legacy last year and the disappointing first quarter of Suicide Squad in our games group.'' “Following a number of major releases, it was overshadowed by tough sales in the gaming sector,” he said. . ”
Zaslav continued: “On the advertising side, companywide advertising sales decreased 7% in the quarter.”
Afterwards, Wiedenfels told the studio that they were losing hundreds of millions of dollars year over year. He also explained that despite the excellent performance of the Hogwarts: His Legacy game, the studio is still bleeding heavily from the impact of the Suicide Squad game.
“Starting with the studio, the year-over-year decline of more than $400 million in the first quarter was primarily due to very challenging revenue.” [comparable sales] In the first quarter of last year, we faced the success of Hogwarts Legacy, and this quarter we suffered a loss due to the disappointing release of Suicide Squad, impacting EBITDA by $200 million. [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization] During the first quarter. ”
Actual losses were reported at $607 million in Q1 2023, decreasing to just $184 million in Q1 2024. 70% reduction.
Mr. Wiedenfels' shocking revelations were a culprit for the company's studio division, which includes video games, television, theatrical and home entertainment businesses, Bounding Into Comics reported.
“Game companies are starting to face the music for their own poor decisions. Instead of listening to gamers, they choose to destroy beloved IP with political messages.” I decided.”
According to Gamer, the game's budget was around $100 million, so the studio must have spent at least that much on advertising, marketing, residuals, and other expenses.
The website also notes that Sony has issued a full refund for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Getting a refund from Sony can be compared to trying to get blood from a stone.
The outlet also points out that only a small number of gamers are actually still playing the game. At the time of this writing, there are only 94 people playing this title, with a peak of 24 hours at 145 people.
“Game companies are starting to face the music for their own poor decisions. Instead of listening to gamers, they are lowering the quality of gameplay, increasing bugs, and offering excessive monetization. However, we decided to destroy a beloved IP with a political message,” said the game designer. mark kern he told Blaze News.
“A $200 million loss cannot be ignored. Warner studio heads are watching closely what their game developers are doing and hopefully quickly recognize the disruption DEI/ESG has caused.” “Deaf,'' he added.
Kahn pointed to fan anger over the game's killing off of Batman as one of the issues, while characters like the purple and red-haired child version of Poison Ivy drew the ire of gamers. It pointed out.
The latter is reportedly the creation of Sweet Baby Inc., a company known for providing diversity consulting and inserting DEI narratives into video games. The website DEI Detected noted that the game is listed on Sweet Baby Inc.'s website.
“This is a message to other video game developers who have woke ideologies and it's not money that gets them in bed with woke consultants like Sweet Baby Inc. Gamers are done.” That Park Added Place editor John F. Trent.
In 2024, games that focus on diversity are at the center of a battleground of ideas, and this spectacular failure by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an attempt to bring race and gender politics into games. This is definitely a significant loss for those who are trying to incorporate it further.
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