New Wonder Woman Game Canceled, Multiple Studios Closed

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Warner Bros. Games is undergoing significant transformations, which involves the closure of three of its studios: Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego. Additionally, the development of the upcoming Wonder Woman game at Monolith Productions has been halted as part of these changes.

According to a recent announcement from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Warner Bros. Games has officially confirmed the information.

Established back in 1994, Monolith Productions has lately been recognized for producing games based on licenses such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. They’re also responsible for creating the F.E.A.R. and Condemned series. In 2004, Warner Bros. took over the company.

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As a gamer, I’m one of those who’ve been following the journey of Player First, the studio that brought us MultiVersus – the multiplayer game we all loved, but unfortunately, it’s time to say goodbye as it’s shutting down this May. A little over six years ago, in 2024, Warner Bros. became part of our story, and MultiVersus was the game that marked our debut.

WB San Diego is a relatively new studio that’s been making significant strides in shaping the future of AAA free-to-play video games.

In a statement, Warner Bros. Games announced that they had to make a challenging choice, which included reorganizing their development teams and subsequently closing certain studios. Moving ahead, Warner Bros. Games has decided to concentrate on four key franchises: Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC Universe, and Game of Thrones.

The closing of the three studios was a “strategic shift,” implying it’s not related to the teams or gifted personnel within those studios.

Regarding the upcoming Wonder Woman video game, Warner Bros. expressed their initial intent to create a top-tier game. However, due to changes in their strategic focus, they regretfully announced that achieving such quality is no longer feasible for this project. It appears that, despite Wonder Woman being part of DC Comics, the character does not align with the company’s revised strategies at present.

The company stated that this choice is difficult due to Monolith’s renowned legacy of providing exceptional game experiences for fans, filled with grand adventures.

A newly released statement indicates that the latest Wonder Woman game has already racked up over $100 million in production costs and is still far from being ready to hit the shelves, mirroring a pattern seen in recent ventures at Warner Bros. Games. Previous endeavors like Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (a $200 million misfire) and Warner Bros. Montreal’s Gotham Knights (which had mediocre sales upon release) have fallen flat, as has MultiVersus, which will be shutting down in May. It is worth noting that both Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus were live-service games. Interestingly, Rocksteady, the developer behind Kill the Justice League, typically doesn’t produce live-service titles.

As a gaming enthusiast, I’m eagerly anticipating the future releases from Warner Bros. Games. It seems they’re focusing on their key franchises. There’s talk of a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, and Warner Bros. Montreal is rumored to be working on a new Game of Thrones title. Plus, there are hints that Rocksteady might be cooking up another single-player Batman game. As for DC, their boss, James Gunn, mentioned some truly intriguing projects in the gaming sphere, but we’ll have to wait a bit before we get our hands on them.

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2025-02-25 22:40