AAA Studio Controversies and Workplace Issues (2019-2026)

21 min read

Sourced research covering Riot Games, Take-Two/Rockstar, Square Enix, Valve, CD Projekt Red, and Warner Bros. Games
Contents 45 sections

Riot Games

The Kotaku Expose (August 2018)

Cecilia D’Anastasio published an investigation in Kotaku based on accounts from 28 current and former Riot employees, documenting systemic sexism at the League of Legends studio. The company was 81% male at the time.

Key allegations:

  • Women regularly passed up for promotions they were qualified for.
  • Female employees interrupted or talked over in meetings.
  • Employees received unsolicited images of male genitalia from colleagues and bosses.
  • An email thread circulated among staff speculating about what it would be like to “penetrate” a female employee.
  • A list shared among senior staff ranking which female employees they would sleep with.
  • Ideas from women were ignored, then accepted when repeated by men.
  • COO Scott Gelb repeatedly “ball-tapped” (struck the testicles of) and farted on male employees. He was suspended without pay for two months.

Source: Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games (Kotaku, August 2018)

Source: Riot Employees Say Company Has Made Real Progress Fixing Its Sexism Issues (Kotaku, August 2019)

Source: How we got here: A timeline of the Riot Games cultural controversy (ESPN)

The Employee Walkout (May 2019)

On May 6, 2019, approximately 150 Riot employees at the Los Angeles headquarters staged a walkout – reportedly the first labor-related walkout at a major game studio. The immediate trigger was Riot’s decision to force two plaintiffs in sexual discrimination cases into private arbitration rather than allowing them to pursue claims in court.

Demands: End forced arbitration for all past, current, and future employees, including contractors.

Riot’s response: refused to change arbitration policies during active litigation, but promised new hires would be allowed to opt out of mandatory arbitration once lawsuits were resolved.

Source: Over 150 Riot Employees Walk Out To Protest Forced Arbitration (Kotaku, May 2019)

Source: Riot Games walkout (CBS News, May 2019)

Source: Riot Games Employees Walkout in Protest (Variety, May 2019)

The $100 Million Settlement (2018-2023)

The class-action lawsuit originated in November 2018, filed by employees Melanie McCracken and Jessica Negron alleging violations of California’s Equal Pay Act, gender discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment. The class eventually encompassed approximately 2,300 women (employees and contractors).

Timeline:

  • November 2018: Lawsuit filed.
  • 2019-2021: Litigation proceeds; California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now Civil Rights Department) intervenes, objecting to an earlier proposed $10 million settlement as inadequate.
  • December 2021: Riot agrees to $100 million settlement.
  • July 22, 2022: Judge Elihu M. Berle of Los Angeles County Superior Court grants preliminary approval.
  • May 2023: Final court approval confirmed by the California Civil Rights Department.

Settlement structure:

  • Minimum $80 million settlement fund distributed to ~2,300 class members.
  • $20 million in legal fees and costs.
  • Three-year consent decree requiring independent monitoring of workplace conditions at California offices.
  • $6 million cash reserve per year (totaling $18 million) for the monitoring period.
  • 40 full-time positions (engineer, QA, art-design) made available to qualified class members who had worked as temporary contractors.

Source: Civil Rights Department Secures Court Approval of $100 Million Settlement (California Civil Rights Department, May 2023)

Source: Judge greenlights $100 million Riot Games gender discrimination settlement (Axios, July 2022)

Source: Riot Games Settles Sex Discrimination Lawsuit for $100 Million (SHRM)

Source: How Riot Games has evolved since 2018 discrimination lawsuit (Washington Post, August 2022)

CEO Nicolo Laurent Harassment Allegations (2021)

In January 2021, Sharon O’Donnell, Laurent’s former executive assistant, filed suit alleging a hostile work environment, unwanted sexual advances, and demeaning comments. She claimed she was stripped of duties and eventually terminated in July 2020 for not reciprocating his advances.

Outcome:

  • Riot’s Special Committee of the Board of Directors commissioned a third-party investigation, which concluded there was no evidence Laurent had harassed, discriminated against, or retaliated against O’Donnell.
  • The case went to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled all claims “unfounded.”
  • In October 2024, the arbitrator awarded Riot and Laurent $20,000 in sanctions against O’Donnell.
  • In December 2024, the Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed the arbitrator’s original award.

Source: Riot Games CEO accused of gender-based harassment (Washington Post, February 2021)

Source: Riot Games Investigation Finds No Evidence of Misconduct by CEO (Hollywood Reporter, 2021)

Source: Update on 2021 Lawsuit Against Riot & Former CEO (Riot Games, 2024)

Commercial Success Despite Scandals

Through all of this, Riot’s products thrived:

  • 2023 revenue: ~$1.5 billion (sales of EUR 1.55 billion, up 12.5% YoY), with net profit of approximately EUR 385 million (~25% margin).
  • League of Legends: Remains Riot’s largest revenue generator. 2023 Worlds viewership grew 65% YoY in Average Minute Audience.
  • Valorant: Esports revenue shared with VCT teams grew from $7.5M (2021) to $44.3M (2024). Total revenue shared with teams exceeded $78.4M in 2024.

Source: How much is Riot Games worth? – 2026 statistics (LEVVVEL)

Source: Riot Games offers insight into VALORANT esports revenue (Esports Insider, December 2023)

Editorial note: The pattern is unmistakable. A $100 million settlement for systemic gender discrimination. 150 employees walking out. The COO suspended for groping people. And revenue kept climbing the entire time. The scandal cycle and the profit cycle run on entirely separate tracks.

Take-Two Interactive / Rockstar Games

Crunch Culture: The 100-Hour Weeks (2018)

In October 2018, while promoting Red Dead Redemption 2, co-founder Dan Houser told New York Magazine that he and his writing team had been working “100-hour weeks” to finish the game.

Houser subsequently clarified to Kotaku that this referred only to the writing team, and only for a three-week period. But the statement triggered an avalanche of accounts from current and former employees describing a far more pervasive culture of crunch at Rockstar:

  • Employees described arriving at 9am and not leaving until 10 or 11pm, seven days a week, for weeks at a time.
  • Mandatory unpaid overtime was the norm, despite Houser’s claim that “no one, senior or junior, is ever forced to work hard.”
  • Multiple employees used the phrase “culture of fear.”
  • Staff reported losing friends, family relationships, and mental stability during extended crunch periods.

Rockstar later implemented “flexitime” scheduling and claimed cultural changes.

Source: ‘We Were Working 100-Hour Weeks’ (Kotaku, October 2018)

Source: Inside Rockstar Games’ Culture Of Crunch (Kotaku, October 2018)

Source: 18 Months After Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Has Made Big Cultural Changes (Kotaku, April 2020)

The Dan Houser Departure (2020)

In February 2020, Take-Two Interactive announced Dan Houser’s resignation from Rockstar Games. He left on March 11, 2020, following an extended break in 2019.

Dan Houser served as head writer and VP of creativity. He was the primary narrative voice behind GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. His stated reason for leaving: the sheer scale of modern Rockstar projects had become unsustainable for him personally.

“It can be a tough journey getting things at that scale with that many moving parts finished… [it] swallows all of your time for many years at a time and I didn’t know if I had another one of those games in me.”

Sam Houser remained as president of Rockstar Games. The Houser brothers were famously reclusive, preferring to credit the Rockstar brand rather than themselves. Sam has given almost no public interviews, maintaining a near-total media blackout throughout his career.

Source: Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser left the studio because of how long GTA 5 and RDR2 took (GamesRadar)

Source: Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser is leaving the studio (Game Developer, February 2020)

Red Dead Online: Abandoned (2022)

Red Dead Redemption 2’s online mode was left to wither while GTA Online received continuous updates and content. The community launched a #SaveRedDeadOnline campaign, which Rockstar acknowledged but effectively ignored.

Key points:

  • Rockstar released only “recycled” content updates in 2022.
  • Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said he’d “heard the frustration” but offered no commitments.
  • Rockstar eventually confirmed no further major content updates would come.
  • The widespread consensus: all resources were redirected to GTA Online revenue generation and GTA VI development.

Source: RDR2 players slam Rockstar for “abandoning” game (Dexerto)

Source: Red Dead Online Not Abandoned, Take-Two Boss Says (Push Square, May 2022)

Source: ‘Red Dead Online’ fans accuse Rockstar of “abandoning” game (NME)

The GTA VI Leak (September 2022)

On September 18, 2022, a user called “teapotuberhacker” posted over 90 files of in-development GTA VI footage on GTAForums.com – one of the largest leaks in video game history.

The hacker: Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old member of the international hacking group Lapsus$. He had also attacked Uber, Nvidia, and other major corporations.

The extraordinary detail: while on bail for previous cyberattacks and with his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj carried out the Rockstar breach using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel room television, and his mobile phone. He accessed Rockstar’s internal Slack, threatened to release the source code, then posted the footage and code publicly.

Kurtaj was found to be severely autistic and deemed unfit to stand trial. In December 2023, a judge sentenced him to an indefinite stay in a secure hospital, to remain until mental health professionals determine he no longer poses a risk.

Source: Teen who leaked Grand Theft Auto VI sentenced to indefinite stay in “secure hospital” (CBS News, December 2023)

Source: Lapsus$ hacker behind GTA 6 leak gets indefinite hospital sentence (BleepingComputer, December 2023)

Source: Teenager hacked Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games (Axios, August 2023)

Square Enix

Selling the Western Studios (2022)

In May 2022, Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal – along with the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and 50+ other IPs – to Embracer Group for $300 million. Approximately 1,100 employees transferred.

Square Enix’s rationale: “adapting to the changes underway in the global business environment,” specifically pivoting toward blockchain, cloud gaming, and AI. The unstated reason: disappointment with Western studio output. Marvel’s Avengers was called a disappointment, and Guardians of the Galaxy underperformed expectations despite positive reviews.

Source: Square Enix Sells Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, And More (Game Informer, May 2022)

Source: Embracer Group completes acquisition (Embracer Group, August 2022)

…Then Embracer Collapsed (2023)

The buyer fared catastrophically. Embracer Group had been on an acquisition binge, snapping up studios at a furious pace. A critical $2 billion investment deal with Savvy Games Group (backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund / Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) collapsed at the eleventh hour in May 2023.

Consequences:

  • Embracer shares dropped 40%.
  • Mass layoffs across the entire group.
  • Volition (Saints Row developer) was shut down entirely.
  • Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters) was shut down before it could ship its reboot.
  • Project cancellations across multiple studios.
  • The company began a long, painful restructuring.

Square Enix got $300 million for three studios and dozens of beloved IPs. Embracer bought a burning building and didn’t know it yet.

Source: Sources: Saudi-backed Savvy Games was the mystery partner in collapsed $2B Embracer deal (Axios, August 2023)

Source: Embracer Group’s mass layoffs triggered by failed $2 billion Saudi Arabia deal (Spokesman-Review, August 2023)

Source: Report: Embracer’s $2 Billion Deal That Blew Up Was With Saudi Arabia (Kotaku, 2023)

The NFT/Blockchain Fixation (2022-2024)

While other publishers quietly shelved their NFT ambitions after the crypto winter, Square Enix doubled down. Repeatedly.

  • January 2023: President Yosuke Matsuda’s New Year letter announced “aggressive investment” into blockchain technology and NFTs, making it the company’s top strategic priority for 2023.
  • March 2023: Confirmed plans for multiple blockchain games in fiscal year 2024 and beyond.
  • 2024: Launched “Symbiogenesis,” an NFT-integrated narrative experience.
  • Even as Sega publicly backed away from blockchain gaming in Q3 2023 citing market uncertainty, Square Enix charged forward.

The gaming community’s reaction was overwhelmingly negative each time.

Source: Square Enix plans aggressive investment into NFTs in 2023 (Washington Post, January 2023)

Source: Square Enix Doubles Down on Blockchain and Web3 in 2024 (ChainPlay)

Source: Square Enix will be “most focused” on blockchain entertainment in 2023 (NME, January 2023)

HD Games Strategy Failure (2023-2024)

The flagship releases underperformed:

  • Final Fantasy XVI (June 2023): Reached 3.5 million copies sold – respectable in isolation, but weak against franchise history. For comparison, Final Fantasy XV shipped 5 million copies on day one. FFVII Remake sold 3.5 million in its first three days.
  • Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (February 2024): Also underperformed expectations.
  • Forspoken (January 2023): Reviewed poorly and sold below projections.
  • Foamstars (February 2024): Dead on arrival.

The HD Games sub-segment posted an operating loss of JPY 8.1 billion (~$51.6 million) for fiscal year ending March 2024 – roughly double the previous year’s loss. Company-wide profits dropped 70% year-over-year.

All three major titles were PlayStation 5 exclusives (timed), which limited their addressable market.

The Multiplatform Pivot (May 2024)

New president Takashi Kiryu (who replaced Matsuda) announced “Square Enix Reboots, and Awakens” – a strategy to aggressively pursue multiplatform releases across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC simultaneously. The company also committed to fewer, higher-quality projects and reduced outsourcing.

The pivot was an implicit admission that the PS5-exclusivity strategy had been a costly mistake.

Source: Square Enix Reveals Plans to ‘Aggressively Pursue a Multiplatform Strategy’ (Game Rant, 2024)

Source: Square Enix targets new multiplatform strategy (TheSixthAxis, May 2024)

Source: Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Heavily Underperformed (Wccftech)

Source: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XVI ‘Didn’t Meet High End Expectations’ (VGChartz)

Valve Corporation

Steam’s Dominance During Industry Chaos

While every other major publisher lurched from crisis to crisis, Valve did what Valve does best: collected rent. Steam’s position as the de facto PC gaming storefront became more dominant, not less, during the industry’s most turbulent period.

Key figures:

  • 2024 revenue: $10.8 billion (up 24% from $8.7 billion in 2023).
  • Market share: ~75% of PC gaming digital distribution in the US. Epic Games Store holds 8-10%, Microsoft Store/Game Pass 6-8%, GOG 2-3%.
  • Monthly active users: 132 million (2024).
  • Peak concurrent users: 41.66 million (October 2025, platform record).
  • Game library: 18,691 new titles added in 2024 alone (31.75% increase YoY), with 117,000+ total games available.
  • Total library value: The platform generated $10.8 billion with a 30% cut on most sales, meaning roughly $36 billion in games were sold through Steam in 2024.

Source: Steam Statistics – Market Trends 2026 (Icon Era)

Source: Steam Statistics (2026): Market Share, MAU & Revenue (DemandSage)

Source: Valve Revenue and Growth Statistics (2024) (SignHouse)

Counter-Strike 2 Launch Issues (September 2023)

Valve replaced CS:GO with Counter-Strike 2 via a mandatory update on September 27, 2023. The launch was rocky:

  • Poor optimization: low FPS, stuttering, and freezes even on high-end hardware.
  • Hit registration inconsistencies – professional players publicly warned people to avoid the game until fixes arrived.
  • Missing maps and game modes that had existed in CS:GO (Baggage, Shoots, Shortdust, Lake, Train, etc.).
  • Audio quality degraded: muffled footsteps and gunfire.
  • Crash-to-desktop issues, particularly on AMD GPUs when alt-tabbing.

CS2 became Valve’s worst-rated game on Steam at launch.

The game has since been stabilized through patches, but the forced replacement of CS:GO (which was delisted and made unplayable) remains controversial.

Source: Counter-Strike 2 is Valve’s worst-rated game on Steam and here’s why (GosuGamers)

Source: CS Fans Criticize Counter-Strike 2 For Poor Optimization (80 Level)

Deadlock (2024-present)

Valve’s first new multiplayer game in years: a 6v6 third-person hero shooter / MOBA hybrid set in a stylized New York. Two teams of six fight across three lanes, pushing AI “troopers” toward the enemy “patron” (an effigy of an elder god).

Status as of early 2026:

  • 38 playable characters.
  • Still in invite-only access (no public release date; full launch expected late 2026).
  • Growing player base and positive reception despite limited access.
  • The “Old Gods, New Blood” update (January 2026) added characters, items, and a Street Brawl mode.

Notably, Deadlock leaked extensively before any official announcement, with gameplay footage spreading across social media in mid-2024. Valve’s response was characteristically minimal – they eventually acknowledged the game’s existence without fanfare.

Source: Deadlock (video game) (Wikipedia)

Source: Deadlock Is Secretly Growing Into An S-Tier MOBA Shooter (Kotaku)

Source: Valve’s New Hero Shooter Is Leaking All Over The Place (Kotaku)

Steam Deck (2022-present)

Valve’s handheld PC launched in February 2022 and became the dominant device in a nascent product category.

  • Estimated 3.7-4+ million units sold lifetime.
  • Steam Deck OLED revision released November 2023 (OLED screen, extended battery, improved cooling).
  • 330 million hours played on Steam Deck in 2024, up 64% from 2023.
  • Commands roughly 48-50% of the handheld PC market despite the category’s overall decline (market fell ~50% in 2024 vs. 2023).

The overall handheld PC market remains small compared to consoles or traditional PCs, but Valve created and dominated the category.

Source: 330 million hours were spent playing games on a Steam Deck in 2024 (PCGamesN)

Source: New figures show Valve’s Steam Deck is still by far the biggest selling handheld gaming PC (PC Gamer)

Gabe Newell’s Approach vs. Everyone Else

Valve operates as a flat organization with no formal management hierarchy (outside executive level). Employees choose which projects to join; if you want to start something, you have to convince others to work on it. Desks have wheels. There are no managers or subordinates – only “individual contributors” and “group contributors.”

Newell’s philosophy:

  • Flat structures remove “perverse incentives” that arise in hierarchies.
  • Specialization is “the enemy of the future” – what makes you great in one generation of games is useless in the next.
  • The goal is to have the most efficient connection between creators and consumers.
  • Valve has “crowd-sourced supervision” of many decisions to customers.

Newell himself acknowledges the model’s limitations: “There are plenty of great developers for whom this is a terrible place to work.” A 2023 People Make Games report found the flat structure and stack-ranking compensation created a poor release cadence and limited employee diversity.

But the results speak for themselves. Valve is privately held (Newell owns a majority stake; estimated net worth $10+ billion), has no quarterly earnings to answer for, and runs arguably the most profitable platform in gaming. While every publicly traded publisher chases trends, restructures, lays off thousands, and lurches from crisis to crisis, Valve just… exists. Printing money. Making a game when they feel like it.

Source: Gabe Newell shares how a flat structure helps Valve succeed (Game Developer)

Source: Valve Corporation (Wikipedia)

CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Disaster (December 2020)

One of the most anticipated games in history launched in a state that was, on last-gen consoles, borderline unplayable.

The damage:

  • Sony pulled the game from the PlayStation Store – an unprecedented move, offering full refunds. The only comparable event in gaming history was Warner Bros. delisting Batman: Arkham Knight from PC due to technical issues.
  • CD Projekt Red publicly apologized and offered refunds directly, losing an estimated $50 million to refund processing.
  • The game was delisted from the PS Store for over six months (returned in June 2021).
  • Despite everything, the game still sold 13 million copies on day one and generated $219 million in profit for 2020 – the disaster was reputational, not immediately financial.

Source: Sony pulls Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store (TechCrunch, December 2020)

Source: CD Projekt Red Expected to Lose Around $50 Million in Cyberpunk 2077 Refunds (Game Rant)

The Redemption Arc (2021-2023)

Unlike most studios that would have moved on, CD Projekt Red committed to fixing Cyberpunk 2077 over the following three years:

  • Continuous patches addressed bugs, performance, and core systems.
  • The 2.0 update (September 2023) fundamentally reworked combat, police AI, vehicle handling, perks, and cyberware – essentially rebuilding major game systems from scratch.
  • Steam user reviews shifted from “Mixed” to “Very Positive” (500,000+ reviews).

Phantom Liberty (September 2023)

The sole expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, released alongside the 2.0 update. A spy thriller set in a new district of Night City, featuring Idris Elba.

  • Critical acclaim across the board.
  • 10 million copies sold as of May 2025.
  • Described as “a thrilling capstone for Cyberpunk 2077’s 3-year redemption arc” (PC Gamer).

Total Lifetime Sales

Cyberpunk 2077’s sales trajectory tells the redemption story in numbers:

  • December 2020: 13 million (launch)
  • September 2022: 20 million
  • October 2023: 25 million
  • November 2024: 30 million
  • November 2025: 35 million

The game sold more copies after its disastrous launch than many AAA games sell in total.

Source: Cyberpunk 2077 tops 30 million copies sold (Game World Observer, November 2024)

The Witcher IV – Rebuilding Trust (2022-present)

Announced in March 2022 (codenamed “Project Polaris”), officially revealed with a cinematic trailer at The Game Awards in December 2024.

Key details:

  • First game in a planned new Witcher trilogy.
  • Built on Unreal Engine 5 (abandoning CDPR’s proprietary REDengine).
  • Pre-production ran from May 2022 to November 2024; full production began November 2024.
  • 447 employees working on the project as of November 2025.
  • Will not release before 2027.

The engine switch to UE5 is significant – REDengine’s limitations were a major contributor to Cyberpunk 2077’s launch problems. Partnering with Epic Games on engine technology signals CDPR is prioritizing technical stability over proprietary control.

Source: The Witcher IV Revealed at The Game Awards (CD Projekt Red Press Center, December 2024)

Source: The Witcher 4 release date estimate (PCGamesN)

Warner Bros. Games

Hogwarts Legacy: Massive Success Despite Boycott (2023)

Developed by Avalanche Software, Hogwarts Legacy became the best-selling game of 2023 and WB Games’ most successful launch in history.

Sales and revenue:

  • 12 million copies and $850 million in revenue within one month of launch (February 2023).
  • 15 million copies and $1 billion+ by May 2023.
  • 22 million copies by end of 2023 (including ~2 million during the holiday season alone).
  • Record-breaking Twitch viewership; most-watched single-player game on the platform.

The boycott: Organized primarily online, the boycott called on players to avoid the game due to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s public statements on transgender people. Some streamers faced harassment for playing it. The boycott’s commercial impact was negligible – the game broke sales records at every milestone.

Source: Hogwarts Legacy overcame the boycott and generated over $1 billion in revenue (LevelUp)

Source: The ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ boycott failed (Newsweek, 2023)

Source: Boycott of Harry Potter video game backfires (Fortune, February 2023)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – $200M+ Loss (2024)

Developed by Rocksteady Studios (the studio behind the beloved Batman Arkham trilogy), Suicide Squad launched in February 2024 after seven years of troubled development.

The damage:

  • Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $200 million hit to revenue directly attributed to the game’s underperformance.
  • CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels specifically called out the game’s failure in Q1 2024 earnings.
  • The game was designed as a live-service title with microtransactions – almost nobody played it, and those who did didn’t spend.
  • For perspective: the 2016 Suicide Squad movie cost $175 million to make and grossed $725 million worldwide despite being a critical disaster. The game lost more money than the universally panned movie cost to produce.
  • The failure contributed to studio closures and project cancellations across WB Games.

Source: Warner Bros admits Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failure contributed to $200M loss (Checkpoint Gaming, May 2024)

Source: ‘Suicide Squad,’ Warner Bros.’s $200 Million Flop (Bloomberg, June 2024)

Source: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League lost Warner Bros. $200 million (PC Gamer)

MultiVersus: Another $100M Loss (2022-2025)

Warner Bros.’ attempt at a platform fighter (in the Smash Bros. mold) featuring Warner IP (Batman, Bugs Bunny, etc.) launched in open beta in July 2022, attracted early buzz, then collapsed.

Timeline:

  • July 2022: Open beta launch. Peak of 153,433 concurrent Steam players on day two.
  • June 2023: Servers taken offline after player count cratered. Announced relaunch for 2024.
  • May 2024: Relaunched with full 1.0 release.
  • Post-relaunch: Struggled to maintain 2,000 concurrent players. Aggressive monetization alienated remaining playerbase.
  • January 2025: Warner Bros. announced end of support. Season 5 would be the last (ending May 2025).
  • Estimated loss: $100 million.

Source: MultiVersus Failure Meant $100 Million Loss for Warner Bros (Esports.net)

Source: MultiVersus Officially Shuts Down (Game Rant)

Source: MultiVersus (Wikipedia)

The Contrast

The WB Games portfolio in 2023-2024 tells a story about what works and what doesn’t:

TitleTypeResult
Hogwarts LegacySingle-player, premium, beloved IP$1B+ revenue, 22M copies
Suicide Squad: KTJLLive-service, microtransactions-$200M loss
MultiVersusFree-to-play, live-service-$100M loss

The pattern: when WB invested in a complete, polished single-player experience built around an IP people actually wanted to inhabit, they made a billion dollars. When they chased the live-service trend, they lost $300 million combined.

Editorial note: Hogwarts Legacy is what happens when you let developers make a good game. Suicide Squad is what happens when executives look at Destiny and Fortnite’s revenue and say “do that, but with our IP.” MultiVersus is what happens when you try it again and learn nothing.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Live-Service Failures

The period 2022-2024 saw an unprecedented number of live-service games fail:

  • Suicide Squad: KTJL (WB): -$200M
  • MultiVersus (WB): -$100M
  • Marvel’s Avengers (Square Enix): shut down September 2023
  • Foamstars (Square Enix): DOA
  • Hyenas (Sega): cancelled before launch
  • Concord (Sony): shut down two weeks after launch

Meanwhile, single-player games thrived: Hogwarts Legacy, Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077 (post-fix), Phantom Liberty.

The Crunch Problem Remains Unsolved

Rockstar’s 100-hour weeks. CDPR’s Cyberpunk crunch. Every studio promises reform after public exposure, but the economic incentives haven’t changed. Games keep getting bigger, budgets keep inflating, and deadlines keep arriving.

The Value of Being Private

Valve’s position as a privately held company with dominant platform revenue makes it effectively immune to the pressures destroying publicly traded publishers. No quarterly earnings calls. No activist investors. No need to chase trends. The contrast between Valve’s stability and the chaos at every publicly traded competitor is the strongest argument for private ownership in the games industry.

Source URLs

Riot Games

Take-Two / Rockstar

Square Enix

Valve

CD Projekt Red

Warner Bros. Games