This is from earlier this month. But it didn’t really hit until seeing more Suicide Squad details.
“Our focus,” he continued, “is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms.”
Gotham Knights is a example. Get ready to see Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Batman, and Mortal Kombat all get that “live services” treatment.
I could see it working for a fighting game but it feels like they’ve whiffed them recently. Wasn’t Multiversus supposed to be a pretty big game? I remember it lasting a few weeks of hype and then going into hibernation, something about an early access release and then a season 2? I don’t remember honestly.
Mortal Kombat easily fits into live service bullshit, sadly, with all the skins and cosmetics that could be applied to battlepasses instead of cosmetic stores.
All the great WB games in the past have never had this kind of monetization. All the Arkham games, Harry Potter; it’s kind of sad seeing them take this approach in the future but it’s just a cash cow even with a few whales.