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Consolidation is the name of the game in the gaming industry right now, with Microsoft leading with the purchase of mega publishers like Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, and Sony making efforts to follow by buying Bungie and other studios. smaller. That said, could Sony be planning a larger purchase to stay competitive? Rumors are swirling that Sony may be considering Square Enix following their offload of unprofitable Western studios, but longtime video game analyst Michael Pachter thinks it would be wise to bring in another major publisher – Warner Bros. Interactive (thanks to Gamereactor for transcription).
I think if Sony was really smart they would make a move towards Warner Bros. Interactive. But Warner Bros. Interactive isn’t worth full price without the rights to exploit the DC Comics franchises. So it’s an open question whether Warner Bros. is willing to set the license that gets paid for these properties at, you know, $5 million a year, $50 million a year, some manageable number, and commit to having perpetual renewal.
Given the huge success of Sony’s Spider-Man games, trying to lock down Batman and other DC characters (with LOTR and Harry Potter as cool bonuses) would make some sense, but only if the license can be established.
If you cannot create Warner Bros. like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and DC Comics, it doesn’t really make sense to buy Warner Bros. Interactive. There are brands that are really good. You know, like Mortal Kombat and Injustice, but Injustice has DC characters. But those are about the only ones I can think of that are significant and are nominally for sale.
Of course, as always, take everything Pachter says with a grain of salt. He’s able to hear things, but he also does his share of off-the-cuff speculation. That said, this discussion of buying WB Interactive isn’t entirely without merit. Warner Bros. recently merged with Discovery, and the new company is said to be looking to cut costs and layoffs. Former Game Informer Writer and Occasional Insider Imran Khan claims to have heard that WB is making the rounds of its game studios again (they tried to sell them before, only to go back on the plan).
I couldn’t get enough confirmation to write an article about it, but I heard a bit of chatter this week about WB Discovery doing the rounds of its game development studios.
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) April 29, 2022
Interested parties include EA, Take-Two, Microsoft, Sony, Tencent, Netease, and PUBG Corp. WBD wants to sell studios and an IP license, supposedly.
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) April 29, 2022
So what do you think? Would WB Interactive and its main studios (Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm, Monolith Productions, Avalanche Software, TT Games and WB Games Montreal) be a good asset for Sony?
