Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly looking to sell a stake in its video game business.
As relayed by VGC, sources speaking to Financial Times claim that the media conglomerate is considering offloading smaller assets of its business in an effort to reverse its falling share price since the merger of Warner Media and Discovery in 2022.
This news comes just a month after Warner announced that it had acquired Player First Games, the studio behind the Smash Bros-inspired fighter Multiversus. Some of the company’s other major studios include the likes of NetherRealm (Mortal Kombat), Portkey Games / Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy), Rocksteady Studios (Arkham Trilogy), and TT Games (Lego franchise).
Warner Bros. Games has experienced somewhat of a rollercoaster when its comes to the reception of its products: Hogwarts Legacy enjoyed immense success and became the best-selling title of 2023, however Rocksteady’s much-maligned Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was met with poor critical and commercial success, ultimately leading to a $200 million loss for Warner.
Despite this, CEO David Zaslav stated that Warner was looking to transform its biggest franchises “from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms”. In other words, leaning into what made Suicide Squad such a failure. Wheey…
