Warner Bros Discovery has revealed that sales of its action adventure game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, have been “disappointing”.
During its Q1 2024 Earnings Call (via), Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav mentioned that the quarter’s financials were “overshadowed” by the “disappointing” sales of Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in the Games group. He also mentioned the great sales performance of Hogwarts Legacy last year as a contributing factor to the Year-Over-Year quarterly decline.
The accompanied report states that the Q1 total Adjusted EBITDA for Warner Bros Discovery was $2,102 million, which is a 20% ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year quarter. This was primarily driven by the success of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year quarter, while Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League generated significantly lower revenues in the current year quarter. It is further stated that costs of revenues increased 3% ex-FX, primarily driven by higher theatrical content expense and an impairment of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, partially offset by lower TV content expense due to fewer episodes delivered.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the company during its Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call, where the Chief Financial Officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, revealed mentioned that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, had fallen short of its expectations. It was considered one of Warner Bros Discovery’s “key” video game releases in 2024.
Not much has been done to address the issues that players have had with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League since launch. Given the game’s lukewarm reception, it’s fair to say that the game’s Season 1 was expected to be a make-or-break situation for the title. However, things didn’t quite turn out as expected, with the first season bringing no new story content. The pre-launch trailer for Season 1 gave the impression that it would add a new story arc in relation to Joker. However, that was not the case.
