Warner Bros. Interactive, WB Games, and its various studios are set to be broken up in some fashion as part of AT&T’s larger plan to sell and merge WarnerMedia with Discovery. While we don’t know the full scope of how it will affect WB Games, it’s been confirmed that the sale will include “some but not all” of Warner Bros. Interactive and WB Games.
WB Games is getting broken up somehow due to AT&T’s WarnerMedia-Discovery sale/merger. “Some of the gaming arm will stay with AT&T and some will go with the new company,” rep tells Axios’ @sarafischer. No further info. WB Games lists 11 studios, games for all kinds of IP, devices
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) May 17, 2021
When asked for comment by Axios, a rep simply said “Some of the gaming arm will stay with AT&T and some will go with the new company.” They did not further elaborate on the details. Axios’ Stephen Totillo says that there are 11 studios listed under WB Games, including Avalanche (Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm (Mortal Kombat), Rocksteady (Batman Arkham) and a variety of others. It’s unclear how the sale to Discovery and splitting of the gaming division will impact upcoming games from the assorted studios.
The sale as a whole is part of AT&T getting out of the media business, so it’s curious that the sale and merger with Discovery wouldn’t include everything all up. The rep’s quote specifically says some will stay with AT&T, which is an odd choice given the aim the this sale and merger being leaving the media business. This leaves open questions about which studios are being left out and where they’ll end up once the dust has settled. It also brings back the rumors that Warner Bros. Interactive had interested buyers from mid last year. At the time, it was reported that AT&T had decided to hold onto WB Games, but this now confirmed deal says they’ve made a shift once again as they get out of media altogether.
With so many moving pieces, it could be some time before we see the full fallout of what this sale and merger actually means for the gaming division of WarnerMedia.
Additionally, this makes some interesting changes to ownership of DC comics and its properties, which are now co-owned by Discovery.
Correcting part of this tweet:
1) The sale includes some of Warner Bros. Interactive/Warner Bros. Games, but not all.
2) The sale does include DC Comics. Discovery, through the new venture, now effectively co-owns DC Comics with WB.
3) Rooster Teeth is part of the sale, yes.
— julia alexander (@loudmouthjulia) May 17, 2021
The affected studios from this sale include:
- Avalanche Software
- Monolith Productions
- NetherRealm Studios
- Rocksteady Studios
- TT Games
- WB Games Boston
- WB Games Montréal
- WB Games New York
- WB Games San Diego
- WB Games San Francisco
We’ll be watching for additional updates as to which studios are included in the sale and what will happen to the remaining ones that weren’t.
[Source: NYT]