There was some uproar in the industry, as the parent company, AT&T was trying to sell their Warner Bros. Video-Game division. They’ve been looking into the possibility since the beginning of the year. Microsoft, Take-Two Interactive, EA, and even Activision were all potential buyers. The unit was valued at $4 billion after major releases like Mortal Kombat 11, the Lego, and the mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Luckily, after much debate throughout the year, they have decided it wouldn’t be viable to sell.
There are some contributing factors that Bloomberg attributes to this change in attitude. Naturally, the ongoing pandemic saw a massive spike in video-game sales making the market very lucrative. In addition, the licensing needed to sell the unit may have complicated matters that would turn the short-term profit into a legal nightmare. Also, the rumored Harry Potter game is considered a lucrative investment that could see an exponential growth of the division.
This is a huge sigh of relief. This news follows the reveal of new DC-based games Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. As mentioned, licensing of these games if WB Games got sold would’ve been quite chaotic. It also could’ve ended up axing various projects no matter how far in development they are, as acquisition procedures come at a high cost. It was a wise decision by AT&T not to sell, as the market is showing continuous growth especially in these trying times. Just maybe, this also sparks a new interest in developing more projects at WB Games.
Source: The Information, Bloomberg
