Game of Thrones one of 4 franchises WBD wants to make video games based on

Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio that owns HBO, wants to focus on franchises; CEO David Zaslav demands it. That's why we've seen the Game of Thrones universe expand with new spinoffs like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and why The Penguin was spun off of the 2022 movie The Batman. And WBD isn't stopping there; they want these franchises to expand into other mediums, like video games.

So far, the company has had successes and failures. Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling video game of 2023, but Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underwhelmed both critics and audiences when it launched earlier this year. Still, the company is gonna keep at it, with journalist Geoff Keighley sharing that they intend to focus their video game efforts on four main franchises:

This is pretty much the same approach that WBD was taking the last time we checked in on them, although we hope they've learned some lessons since then from the failure of games like Kill the Justice League. Of the franchises on that list, Game of Thrones is the one that's had the least exposure in the form of video games. The most popular ones so far have probably been the six-episode game series from Telltale, which crafted a choose-your-own-adventure kind of saga. Beyond that, all we've gotten is chintzy mobile games like Game of Thrones: Conquest:

If WBD wants to get Game of Thrones fans buzzing, I think the idea that would please them most would be an elaborate, single-player adventure where players get to fight and scheme their way up the ladder of power in Westeros, with an epic story that has a beginning, middle and end. However, those kinds of games are expensive and time-consuming to make, and there's little opportunity to make money from that kind of game beyond the upfront sale. WBD prioritizes those things, so I wouldn't hold my breathe hoping to see that kind of game.

On the other hand, that's basically the kind of game that Hogwarts Legacy was, and that's by far the biggest success that Warner Bros. Games has had yet. So maybe they'll take the right cues.

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