Warner Bros. is canceling its deliberate Marvel Lady sport and shutting down three studios: Monolith Productions, Participant First Video games, and WB San Diego, based on Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier.
Schreier broke the information on Bluesky immediately, adopted by the discharge of a full report on Bloomberg. Shortly after Schreier’s put up, WB confirmed the shut downs to Kotaku in a press release:
We’ve got needed to make some very troublesome choices to construction our growth studios and investments round constructing the most effective video games attainable with our key franchises -– Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Sport of Thrones. After cautious consideration, we’re closing three of our growth studios – Monolith Productions, Participant First Video games and Warner Bros. Video games San Diego. This can be a strategic change in route and never a mirrored image of those groups or the expertise that consists inside them.
The event of Monolith’s Marvel Lady videogame is not going to transfer ahead. Our hope was to present gamers and followers the very best high quality expertise attainable for the long-lasting character, and sadly that is now not attainable inside our strategic priorities. That is one other robust determination, as we acknowledge Monolith’s storied historical past of delivering epic fan experiences via wonderful video games. We enormously admire the fervour of the three groups and thank each worker for his or her contributions. As troublesome as immediately is, we stay centered on and enthusiastic about getting again to producing high-quality video games for our passionate followers and developed by our world class studios and getting our Video games enterprise again to profitability and progress in 2025 and past.
Earlier this yr, one other Bloomberg report instructed Marvel Lady was in bother after rebooting and switching administrators in early 2024. This got here amid bigger struggles on the firm’s gaming division, together with layoffs at Rocksteady, the lukewarm reception to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the shutdown of MultiVersus.
And much more not too long ago, WB Video games has appeared to endure a restructuring of kinds, as long-time video games head David Haddad introduced his departure from the corporate, and rumors circulated that the division could be bought off.
Particularly, this transfer represents a blow to WB’s DC universe-connected gaming efforts. Notably, simply yesterday, James Gunn and Peter Safran stated in a presentation that it will be “a few years” earlier than the primary DCU online game.
With this closure, the video games trade loses three extremely storied studios. Monolith Productions, which had been engaged on Marvel Lady, was based in 1994 and bought by WB in 2004. It is best-known for Center-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Shadow of Struggle, the previous of which pioneered the lauded Nemesis system that WB efficiently patented in 2021.
Participant First Video games, a more moderen studio established in 2019, was accountable for MultiVersus. The sport was well-received critically and noticed launch success, however underperformed relative to WB’s expectations. WB San Diego, equally, is a more moderen studio established in 2019 with a deal with cellular, free-to-play video games.
These shutdowns proceed a pattern going again roughly three years of accelerating video games trade layoffs, mission cancellations, and studio closures. In 2023 alone, it is estimated that over 10,000 sport builders have been laid off. That quantity shot as much as over 14,000 in 2024, and whereas 2025 has seen quite a few closures, the precise variety of impacted people is hazier as a result of fewer firms reporting these layoffs and shutdowns, or particular numbers affected.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You’ll find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Acquired a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
