Warner Bros. Discovery is canceling its troubled Wonder Woman project and shutting down three of its studios, according to a report from Bloomberg. The closures affect Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. This decision is said to be part of an effort to focus on major franchises like Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and Batman.
A Warner Bros. spokesperson told Bloomberg that the shutdowns were not a ‘reflection of these teams’ and followed a difficult 2024 for the company.
“The quality of too many of our new releases has really missed the mark,” wrote JB Perrette, head of games and streaming, in a memo to staff reviewed by Bloomberg. “We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy.”
Several Warner Bros. titles underperformed last year, including Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, MultiVersus, and Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the Wonder Woman game has been struggling since its 2021 reveal.
Monolith Productions, based in Washington, had been developing games that turned into fan favorites since 1994. It was best known for cult classic shooters like No One Lives Forever, Blood, Condemned, and F.E.A.R. In 2014, it received critical acclaim for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its Nemesis System mechanic. The studio was last known working on the ill-fated Wonder Woman game.
Player First Games, acquired by Warner Bros. in July 2023, only worked on MultiVersus. Last month, Warner Bros. announced it was shutting down the brawler game due to poor performance.
On his Bluesky account, Jason Schreier pointed out that current Warner Bros. Discovery president David Zaslav might not be to blame. He said that by the time Zaslav took over in April 2022, Monolith had gone ‘almost five years’ without shipping a game. Instead, ex-president David Haddad had overseen the division for the last 12 years.
