Warner Bros. Interactive remains part of the Studios and Networks group, along with our Global Brands and Franchises team including DC led by Pam Lifford , and our Kids, Young Adults and Classics business led by Tom Ascheim , all focused on engaging fans with our brands and franchises through games and other interactive experiences.
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They don’t seem to see it as a particularly important part of their business. It actually looks more like they are selling it than not reading that.
how does it come off as them selling it?
The most they have to say about it is that it remains a part of their business.
Even if they are interested in selling WBI in the foreseable future, WB Interactive is part of WarnerMedia and hence part of any reorganization. They need to operate until they sign the deal (it may take several months).
I don’t know how the company was structured before, but I do see an interest on making the “Studios and Networks group” the team in charge of overseeing the development of their IP (“along with our Global Brands and Franchises team”) inside (“Studios”) and outside (“Networks”) of the organization. The press release also mentioned a reduction of headcounts, which is also compatible with selling WBI. So this reorg seems compatible with the idea of letting their WBI go elsewhere.
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I hope MS doesn’t buy them. I can’t stand licensed games as exclusives and although Rocksteady, NRS and Monilith are fantastic devs, they aren’t worth 4 billion dollars even with a shaky deal for use of the IP
Oh and from what I understand WB only owns the LOTR Peter Jackson film rights, I know that that Gollum game that’s coming out has nothing to do with Peter Jackson films or WB
For that much money, MS should buy Asobo (although they may be tied up with Focus for a bit) Techland, Bloober Team, IO Interactive, People can Fly, or maybe even open a new studio. OR even expand their current studios. Imagine Rare opening up a brand new studio dedicated to making single player games like Ratchet and Clank on the PS4, smaller but extremely high quality.
I’m not against MS buying new studios but I also would like to see them expand the current developers they have.
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I’m in no way informed in these types of deals in any way at all, so I’m just talking out of my arse here. Surely you wouldn’t say, yeah we’re selling this division though, as it would lower any potential bid.
I’m not saying this confirms a bid or even interest. I would just think it makes sense to make it seem like they are part of your business family plans to keep value.
I figure we should ping Hoeg Law on this? He recently made a video on this when reports came that MS was interesting in the deal. He has experience and can understand this esoteric lingo lol
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I think this purchase will only happen if there is a reduction in the number of studios, especially mobile studio
I honestly cannot see Xbox going anywhere near this. I never could. Buying individual studios with their IPs yes. But Microsoft don’t want a huge influx of staff with their policies because it’s very very very expensive for them. Especially studios that they probably don’t really want. Then the IP cost is on top of all that and probably very very hard to get.
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I don’t see how this confirms anything. MS acted like Mixer was the next big thing up until the day they shuttered it. You proceed with business as normal to not panic shareholders or lull them into a sense of over-inflated worth that crashes down worse.
This doesn’t seem to say anything about Warner Bro’s not selling