UPDATE: Warner Bros. has confirmed the closure of all three studios in a statement provided to Kotaku.
“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,” WB told Kotaku. “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.”
They also confirmed the cancellation of the Wonder Woman game which was being worked on at Monolith.
ORIGINAL STORY: Warner Bros. has had a crazy few years, launching the absurdly successful Hogwarts Legacy while also putting out various failures such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the impressively mid Gotham Knights. Now, the very same journalist who reported the company’s behind-the-scenes problems last month is saying that Warner Bros. is shutting down multiple studios.
Jason Schreier of Bloomberg is the man who broke the story, taking to BlueSky to break the news that Warner Bros. is apparently shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego.
As a result, the Wonder Woman game, which Jason previously reported was still years away from being released, is also being cancelled completely.
“BREAKING: Warner Bros. Games is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, sources tell Bloomberg News,” wrote Schreier. “Warner Bros. is also canceling the Wonder Woman game.”
He states that a full story on the report will be published on Bloomberg.
Garrett Huxtable, Systems Designer at Monolith, has confirmed this reporting on LinkedIn. In a post made today, Garrett says: “Today Monolith Productions (WB Games) received news that we will be shutting down. As such, I will be looking for work effective immediately.”
Monolith Productions is perhaps best known for its two Middle-Earth games which were built around the fantastic Nemesis system. But the company, which was founded in 1997, also put out titles like F.E.A.R. With the team being tasked with creating a Wonder Woman game, their last published game was in 2017.
Searching through LinkedIn, I’ve found numerous other current Monolith employees posting in the last few hours about losing their jobs or are seeking work, indicating that the reports of the studio’s closure are accurate.
Player First Games recently suffered a massive blow with the closure of its live-service title Mulitversus, a brawler where numerous Warner Bros. IP could battle each other, like Batman getting the shit kicked out of him by Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.
Finally. Warner Bros. San Diego was founded in 2019 and was working on a “”exciting new AAA, free-to-play, cross-platform game”. If the news is true, they will have been shuttered without ever getting to release a game.
A senior designer at WB San Diego also posted on LinkedIn confirming the studios’ closure, saying: “Hey all, WB Games San Diego is closing down so I’m open to new opportunities.”
