In providing financial confirmation to the live-service title’s reputation as one of the worst overall disasters in the history of video games, Warner Bros. Discovery has admitted that the absolute failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has ultimately resulted in a $200 million hit to their bottom line.
This concession to SS:KTJL‘s failure was offered by WBD CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels during the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call, as held on May 9th.
The first to speak to the topic was Zaslav, who in his opening remarks briefly noted to investors that, “Unfortunately, the studio’s Q1 financials were overshadowed by the tough comp at games following the great performance of Hogwarts Legacy last year and the disappointing release of Suicide Squad [Kill the Justice League] in Q1 in our gaming group.”
Later expanding on this information while breaking down the studio’s quarterly financials, Wiedenfels would further detail, “the $400 million plus year-over-year decline in Q1 [reported in the company’s earnings release] was primarily due to the very tough comp we faced in games against the success of Hogwarts Legacy last year in the first quarter, in conjunction with the disappointing Suicide Squad release this past quarter, which we impaired, leading to a $200 million impact to EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depcreciation, and Amortization] during the first quarter.”
Per the aforementioned earnings release, the EBITDA for the company’s studio segment – which includes their video game, television, theatrical, and home entertainment operations – fell roughly 70% compared to the prior year quarter, dropping from $607 million in 2023 to just $184 million in 2024.
According to WBD, this decline was largely caused by SS:KTJL, with what little damage mitigation could be done being delivered by the theatrical revenue of Dune: Part Two and the home entertainment revenue of both Wonka and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Interestingly, while this is the first time the company has provided financial details regarding the fact, it is not the first time WBD has copped to SS:KTJL‘s failure.
Speaking to investors during the company’s previous Q4 2023 earnings call on February 23rd, Wiedenfels explained that when it came to the future of their video game segment, “We are lapping the release of Hogwarts Legacy in February last year, which saw the largest portion of its very positive financial impact in the first quarter. This year, Suicide Squad [Kill the Justice League], one of our key video game releases in 2024, has fallen short of our expectations since its release earlier in the quarter, setting our games business up for a tough year-over-year comp in Q1.”
Further, the CFO also revealed that their Studio segment’s finances would not even have a chance to fully recover from SS:KTJL‘s more-than-disappointing-performance before they would take another hit, as “on the film side, Q1 will be burdened with the marketing campaigns for Dune [Part] Two and Godzilla vs. Kong, which opens at the very end of the quarter.”
Ultimately, this result comes as little surprise given just how badly the game – between it’s awfully written narrative, lazy gameplay design, and corporate-greed-driven monetization model – has been received by players.
And while evidence to their rejection of SS:KTJL’s cynical existence is readily abundant via a quick search of any social media platform, one really needs look no further than the game’s current Steam performance.
As of writing, the game’s player count currently sits at a 24-hour peak of just 150, with its monthly peak – just a little under three months after its release – sitting just barely higher at 591.
