Warner Bros. has confirmed reports that they are shutting down three of their game studios, closing Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego is what they’re describing as a “strategic change in direction”.
In a statement to Kotaku, the publisher’s statement says, “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises -– Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones. After careful consideration, we are closing three of our development studios – Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them.”
Of particular note is the closure of Monolith Productions, who was working on a Wonder Woman video game that was first announced in 2021. This game was the subject of reporting earlier this month that stated that the game’s development had been rebooted within the last year after creative leads left the studio.
Monolith’s last game was Middle-earth: Shadow of War, back in 2017, the studio having pioneered the patented Nemesis system with their first Middle-earth game three years earlier. However, the studio’s storied history goes back much further with landmark titles like FEAR, the niche and kitschy No One Lives Forever, and Aliens vs. Predator 2.
Player First Games was the studio behind online multiplayer brawler MultiVersus, which burst onto the scene with its open beta in 2022, but ultimately flopped at its 2024 relaunch, and was recently sunset by WB.
Finally, WB Games San Diego was a studio founded in 2019 and had reportedly been working on an unannounced “AAA, free-to-play, cross-platform game.”
Warner Bros. has been struggling for quite some time, it seems, and these three studios are seeing the wider consequences of those struggles. This feels like less of a “change in direction” and more about WB making a cold financial decision. Wonder Woman’s long-running development will have been very costly, and there was seemingly no end in sight, while Player First would have been right back at the start of the development cycle. “AAA, free-to-play” has also gone from seeming like a sure bet to company execs to a massive risk.
It’s not clear how many jobs are being lost as part of these studio closures, and Warner Bros. has not publicly explained what redundancy and support packages they will be offering to those affected.
Our thoughts go to those suddenly out of work, and hope that they can find new employment soon.
Source: Kotaku
