In 2017, a game called Game of Thrones: Conquest came out for mobile platforms. Based on the hugely popular HBO show, it's a strategy game that allows players to take control of characters from the TV series and lead armies to victory, all in a quest to become the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.
It may not have made a huge splash in the community, but it's been a consistent success for Warner Bros. Games, so we can expect more games like it. Executive JB Perrette tells Variety that “we’re constantly looking to see what else we can do” with games based on Game of Thrones and its spinoff show House of the Dragon, which are part of “one of our biggest and most popular audience franchises.”
Game of Thrones is one of four franchises under the control of Warner Bros. Discovery that the company pinpoints as being worth at least a billion dollars, the others being Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, and DC. Warner Bros. wants to push further into making video games based on these franchises, ensuring that people always have something new to play, rather than getting a hit every three or four years. "We want it to be 'always on'," Perrette said. "And the good news is the gaming space is lending itself to that."
Will we ever get a big, single-player RPG based on Game of Thrones?
When Perrette talks about games being "always on," he's likely not referring to solo adventures where players run through a story, finish it, and move on with their lives. For years, video game companies have pursued a live service model that encourages constant engagement, which means more opportunity to generate revenue.
That might be too cynical a read on what Perrette is saying, but I wouldn't hold out hope for some epic single-player experience set in George R.R. Martin's world of ice and fire anytime soon. More likely, we'll get more games like Game of Thrones: Conquest, mobile experiences that are "always on."
That's ironic considering that Warner Bros. biggest success in the video game space to date, last year's Hogwarts Legacy, is a single-player experience with a set endpoint set in the world of Harry Potter, which is where Warner Bros. Games will be concentrating most of its efforts in the near future. They're already working on video game all about Quidditch, the fictional, broom-based sport Harry plays in the books.
Maybe Warner Bros. Games will eventually try to make a lavish single-player experience set in the world of Game of Thrones at some point, but probably not for a while, despite my suspicion that such a game would be a big success. Perhaps the second season of House of the Dragon, which premieres on HBO and Max sometime this summer, will convince them that such a project is worth trying.
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