Based on recent findings, there’s a high chance that future games by Warner Bros. Interactive will focus more on live service elements. According to Twitter user MauroNL, the company currently has an internship listening “tucked away” in its official website, and this listing mentions the direction the studio is taking its upcoming titles.
As you may or may not know, the live service genre is a controversial, heavily debated topic in the video game industry. Live service games are basically the kind of titles that still receive regular support and updates from the developer even after its release. On the bright side, it gives developers the chance to introduce new content and features to a game even years after the game’s initial launch, which ensures that the title remains fresh and interesting for a longer period of time.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) is currently involved in a variety of new projects featuring their well-known franchises with a "heavy focus on live service". This applies to both casual games and core games on all platforms (console, digital and mobile).
1/4
— MauroNL (@MauroNL3) January 25, 2021
On the downside, it gives some studios the opportunity to simply release a half-baked game at launch, as it can still be fixed through regular updates and hotfixes after release. It can’t be denied, however, that companies can greatly benefit and profit from this kind of video game format. As such, you can expect more live service games in the future, especially for the next-generation consoles.
MauroNL states that they got their information from the career page on the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment website. The company is currently working on a variety of games, but all of them have “a heavy focus on live-service.” No matter the platform, this particular listing implies that future games will have this kind of format.
Although Warner Bros. didn’t exactly make an official announcement about this, we also can’t discredit this kind of official internship listing. For one thing, Back 4 Blood—the publisher’s recently revealed multiplayer survival horror game—will have live service elements.
That being said, it doesn’t seem as if all of upcoming Warner Bros. games can be categorized into the live service genre. For instance, MauroNL mentions other titles like Gotham Knights, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and the highly anticipated Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy.
Based on the trailers of these aforementioned titles, we can’t say for sure if they will be receiving any kind of post-launch update or addition. However, it’s worth mentioning that multiplayer titles are the ones that usually implement live service elements, while these games mostly focus on their story or narrative.
The various titles that utilize live service elements vary in results, from great to awful. For example, we have the Final Fantasy 14 game, which has received regular updates for several years now. As a matter of fact, many fans think that its recent Shadowbringers expansion is one of the best.
On the other hand, another live service game called Anthem disappointed many fans, as it was released with a plethora of bugs. Its developer, BioWare, simply promised that it would fix and improve the game via updates over time.
In any case, let’s not dwell too much on the negatives. After all, the video game industry is always changing and improving, so there’s a chance that at this point, Warner Bros. knows what aspects make a live service game good and will implement these on its future games.
