'Hogwarts Legacy' Publisher WB Games To Focus On 'Live Service'

WB Games, the publisher with titles like Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, and Hogwarts Legacy under its wing, is aiming to develop its collection of titles into live service experiences.

This tidbit comes from an opening for a games production MBA intern, who will be required in the summer for the production department of WB Games. "The WBIE Production Summer Intern will have the opportunity to learn about the way a game publisher evaluates new game opportunities by working closely with the Executive Producer," read the listing. "WBIE is currently involved in a variety of new projects, ranging from casual games to core games featuring our well-known franchises on all platforms (console, digital, mobile) with a heavy focus on live service. All of this would provide for a well-rounded experience at an exciting game publishing studio making its mark on the industry."

This is interesting. At the moment, the majority of the announced titles that are on their way from WB Games' studios are single-player or co-op experiences. Gotham Knights, arriving on last- and current-gen consoles and PC in 2021, lets the player step into the shoes of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood. These characters have their own playstyle, and the game's co-op mode sees a second player join the fight at any time and as any of the three other heroes. Though it has recently suffered a delay, the Hogwarts Legacy team are crafting an exciting and expansive single-player game. A multiplayer mode isn't out of the question however, and as the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire.

And, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (let's call it Suicide Squad, for short) is similar in structure to Gotham Knights. This time, it allows for a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode, where players choose one of the crew to play: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, or King Shark. If the player is a lone ranger, then these characters will be piloted by artificial intelligence in the single-player mode, but really, it seems that Suicide Squad will shine when it's the pure chaos of four friends trying their best to save the world.

With the information uncovered in this internship, it appears as though the publisher has ambitions to add live service elements to these aforementioned games and others that are yet to come. Almost all online multiplayer games nowadays have live events, like Apex Legends, Warframe, and Star Wars Battlefront II. However, the key to their success is cornering a part of the market, and listening to their players. WB Games has that first part in the bag, with strong IPs to draw from, but we'll have to wait and see if these upcoming titles are able tread water in a crowded genre.

You might not have twigged this, but Back 4 Blood is being published by WB Games, and developed by Turtle Rock Studios. They were the team behind the Left 4 Dead series, so there's a lot to look forward to in this new gory co-op shooter. "Our fans have been waiting a long time for us to return to our roots and it's amazing to finally show the world what we've been working on," said the studio. "We are making this game with our community in mind and are firing on all cylinders to give players a compelling zombie experience that is unlike any other."