The future of Warner Bros gaming division has been plunged into uncertainty once more, as AT&T is unloading its media business as part of a $43 billion merger with cable company Discovery. The arrangement is complicated – and won’t be completed until mid-2022 should shareholders agree – but it will effectively see the establishment of an entirely new organisation overseen by both AT&T and Discovery shareholders, which is being billed as “one of the largest global streaming players”.
Of course, our interest begins and ends with Warner Bros Interactive, the gaming division of WarnerMedia. And its future remains unclear: “Some of the gaming arm will stay with AT&T and some will go with the new company,” a spokesperson told Axios. At this time, it’s unclear who will retain ownership of who, but this is likely to cause some serious headaches. AT&T had attempted to sell off its games publishing arm entirely last year, but eventually decided to keep it in-house after it couldn’t find a buyer willing to pay its asking price.
So exactly what this means for teams like NetherRealm Studios, Rocksteady, TT Games, and Avalanche Software is still up in the air. Warner Bros’ biggest intellectual property, like DC Comics, will transition ownership to the new company formed by AT&T and Discovery, so it makes sense that titles like Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will remain under that umbrella. But that seems messy, and the focus doesn’t appear to be on games at all really – it’s all about creating a competitor to Netflix and Disney+.
[source ign.com, via videogameschronicle.com, twitter.com, videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 40
Whatever the outcome of this is, it will probably make stuff harder for the studios in the meantime - which definitely sucks.
Netherealm would be the pick of the bunch for anyone looking to buy imo just be a question of weather they keep hold of the Mortal Kombat IP
I'm surprised Microsoft didn't bite. I wonder what the asking price was.
@WCB there's still time. The whole gaming side was put up at $4bn a while back but it was insane pricing if you ask me.
Do people not seriously think Microsoft have enough already?
Sounds like a big mess. Feel bad for the peeps working at the studios under WB Games' umbrella.
@Royalblues. Nope Microsoft is the worst .word up son
I really wish AT&T never infected WB, since they took over its been one disaster after another from wasting money on the Snyder Cut, the bizarre handling of HBO Max, gutting the comic side of DC and having WB greenlight DC films no one wants like a Superman reboot with a black lead and Zatanna what makes no real sense.
They should just spin off their gaming division as a seperate company. Give them a 10 year license for all of their properties.
@AdamNovice They absolutely do have enough already. I fear they wont stop anytime soon however. Madness how some people think what Microsoft is doing is a good thing. It will end in tears eventually one way or another
Hasn't WarnerBrothers got Dying Light 2 as well?
As long as Microsoft don't get any of it then I don't care who gets it(even the Devil can have it)
@AdamNovice they do but after the Bethesda deal everytime a studio is up for grabs they'll be the leader
@Royalblues shut your mouth pls, Microsoft is cancer
Sony should buy it then they have All Super Heros
WB games can go under for all I care. MK 11 is a joke with hundreds of dollars in microtransactions and DLC schemes.
@Kopite I do agree with you on that. If you look at what price Sony bought Insomniac. But if you look at Insomniac a great studio but they almost dont own any IP's so the lower price isnt that strange. I think Netherrealm will be great for Sony and Rocksteady also but besides the Batman games there are not many other games.
Let's hope Snowblind can reform out of that mess...
I really hate the way the videogames industry has been going in the last couple of years. Constant mergers and acquisitions are bad for the consumer and bad for creative freedom.
It will be pretty unfortunate if this antitrust action ultimately leads to more and more acquisitions in the videogame industry, but the videogame industry is small potatoes compared to the broader media and telecommunications industry.
For those wanting Microsoft to have bought. Microsoft doesn't make money in games.
@WallyWest what did they do to the comics?
No amount of money seems worth this logistical nightmare to me.
@Royalblues - No
I think it's safe to say WB Interactive is dead. It will "exist" in the same way Konami "exists" as a gaming company. It'll mostly be a trading commodity of paper value and no material product.
Discovery... Isn't it that cable channel that repeat 8 hour loop for entire week, where is 10 minutes adverts on 5 minutes of show? I accidentally switched to it a few years ago and it was unwatchable.
@djlard Ever try to use AT&T's phone service? Basically the same thing. It's a match made in heaven.
I once had an AT&T CSR demand that I call back on a different phone. I was caught between rage and hysteric laughter that AT&T refused to talk over their own garbage network until I called back on a Verizon line.
......and I actually bought that ridiculous AT&T PS Vita version day 1....why? I have no idea. Remember the boo'ing when they announced it was AT&T only? lol
I pray this will not negatively effect any of the DC games in the works.
I don't understand why mergers happen, I assume it's not always corporate greed. But it sucks nonetheless when big companies get even bigger.
@Rash I mean, they're obviously trying to. I'm not sure what their profits look like, but I don't think that's the issue here with how much they've opened up their wallets lately. I really don't want them do it again even once now, but I don't think that's valid logic for the situation.
Jeez, we've waited too long for Rocksteady's next effort already...hopefully there isn't a delay and everyone keeps their jobs in this new transition.
@Flaming_Kaiser so many of the studios under the WB umbrella already work on the IP they own (DC, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings) I don't remember the last game they released that wasn't an existing franchise
i hope Microsoft buys them so all yall will complain once more
@LegacyRXT enjoy having no good exclusives. Dumb fanboy
Believe it or not my only concern here is what will happen with all the precious Midway/Atari Arcade classic game properties WB owns!! And there’s a ton of them too!!
Not that WB has been doing anything with them last few years but we don’t want them to fade into oblivion which classic video game preservation has been a hot topic and concern for this industry these days!
Thank goodness my Midway Arcade Origins collection disc is backwards compatible with my Xbox one and series X!! 👍
To be fair no one wants these multiplayer games to go to one platform. With that being said, when is Microsoft ending the bidding war?
@Royalblues Microsoft is still around because of one thing and that is a unending cashflow. And its a company like so many US companies that buy up everything and win in that way.
Microsoft is nothing better then Tencent its just a issue for lots of people its a Chinese company.
You act like MS is better then Google, Amazon they act exactly the same as both buy up and kill the competition.
Tencent and the communist go to excuse is also getting old. I think China has done horrible things and still is doing them.
The US destroys countries and leave the EU to pick up the pieces and refugees. Irak and Afghanistan has gained nothing after the US waged the war in/at these countries.
The US is also one of the Western countries going back in time with women rights making it illegal for women to make their own choices about their own body. Or people who dont fit the standard picture.
The same goes for Europe we have done a lot of terrible things and like the US we still make money of misery like selling firearms to countries in war.
Russia is gratefull to rob broken countries blind by paying of their corrupt rulers (dictators).
I always will respect the old US soldiers who gave their lives to help us in WW2 but im not going to act like the US is so great anymore.
Helping the cartels in Mexico getting weapons fighting a war on drugs that only made the cartels more powerfull.
And please stop acting like capitalism is the holy grail. You dont even have netneutrality such a big country that is hold back by massive companies that lobby (pay off senators). Monopoly is something the US excels at by making the richest companies almost untouchable. And keeping money at the most rich people around with that system.
The only difference between unbridled capitalism and communism is that power lies at the biggest companies instead of a country dictator.
@Royalblues love it and if MS did buy it I would have a reason to pick up a series x coz as it stands it has the worst launch line up eeeeever as in 0 big exclusives 🤣🤣🤣
@Royalblues We both agree i guess that both companies are horrible. One is the posterboy of unbridled capitalism the of capitalism with a communist backing that plays the US game now.
I dont trust either company and with MS that gets funding from the US warmachine there is no stopping them. So i hope that Europe will wakeup some times and startup a counter against the US and China.
I even have more hope for the Japanese even with their horrible past and how they are against women but at there the women and the new generation are going forward instead of backwards.
@Og_roses have fun paying 70 dollars for each game
dumb fanboy
@LegacyRXT every game will be $70 from now on you dumb fanboy. Now enjoy having no good exclusives
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