Sales of WB Games’ latest fighting game, Mortal Kombat 1, have now surpassed 3 million units, and the publisher plans on driving further monetization through live service strategies.
In its Q3 2023 earnings call transcript, Warner Bros Discovery Inc has shared that Mortal Kombat 1 sales have surpassed 3 million copies, and has also revealed plans to further drive monetization through live service strategies.
The publisher stated that it is leading with multiple key franchises, each of which is a $1 billion gaming property, including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC, which is mainly Batman today, and Mortal Kombat, whose most recent release, Mortal Kombat 1 has sold nearly 3 million copies since its launch in mid-September. Warner Bros claimed that it has the proven IP and franchises, the world class studios and publishing talent, and it intends to continue to invest more capital and more resources into the games business.
WB Games’ focus is on transforming its biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always online gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms. The publisher mentioned that it wants to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels. The company is currently under scale and views significant opportunity to generate greater post purchase revenue.
Warner Bros noted that its games business has shown tremendous success, not only from a P&L perspective, contributing millions of dollars to the company’s consolidated profits, but also from a return on investment perspective. The company is now looking to invest more into this opportunity.
Mortal Kombat 1 is the twelfth main installment in the Mortal Kombat series, serving as both a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) and the series’ second reboot, following Mortal Kombat (2011). The game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on September 18, 2023, with the premium edition having been released on September 14.
