Last year it was reported that AT&T was looking to sell off Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the division responsible for publishing and developing video games like the Batman: Arkham series, Mortal Kombat and more. A few months later, it seemed that those discussions had died down, but big changes are now on the way this year.
Today, AT&T announced that it has agreed to spin off WarnerMedia and its subsidiaries with Discovery to form a new media company. The deal will see AT&T receive $43 billion and form one of the largest standalone entertainment companies, which will be particularly important in the years to come as company begins switching to streaming.
Unfortunately, the announcement does not cover everything. In particular, there is no mention of WB Games or Warner Bros. Interactive in the announcement for this new spin-off company. WB Games houses studios like Rocksteady Games, NetherRealm Studios, Avalanche Software and Monolith Productions. These studios oversee game development for valuable IP, including The Lord of the Rings, Mortal Kombat, Batman Arkham and DC Comics.
Currently, the WarnerMedia spin-off isn't expected to close until sometime next year and will need to be approved by shareholders.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Given that there was no mention of gaming as part of this announcement, we may be looking towards a future where WB Games is sold off to another publisher, or individual studios are sold off instead. Hopefully we'll get some clarification on the future of WB Games soon, after all, the publisher has some big hitters on the way, including Rocksteady's Suicide Squad game and Hogwarts Legacy.