Warner Media being sold to Discovery Channel, WB Games might be broken up

EvaUnit02 on 17/5/2021 at 20:09

(https://archive.ph/rXFEp) Warner Media is being sold by AT&T to Discovery Channel for $43 billion. The (https://archive.ph/wSfDw) current insider rumour is that WB Games might be broken up, some studios/IPs staying with AT&T, others to be sold off to Discovery.

WB Games have a bunch of studios including Rocksteady & WB Montreal (Batman Arkham series), TT Games (Lego games), Monolith Productions (Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War, F.E.A.R.), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat, Injustice). Their IPs include Harry Potter, DC comics, Mortal Kombat, Midway and Williams arcade classics.

What could this mean? Some games might be cancelled outright, eg if IPs get divorced from studios working on them.
-(https://nichegamer.com/2021/03/19/gotham-knights-delayed-to-2022/) Batman: Gotham Knights (WB Montreal) was recently delayed out of 2021.
-(https://archive.ph/0udlP) Hogwarts Legacy release date delayed to 2022
-(https://archive.ph/PjFiy) Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga was recently delayed indefinitely.
-Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has no release date.
All of these games could be at risk.

There have been recent rumours that (https://www.psu.com/news/mortal-kombat-co-creator-tweet-adds-to-speculation-of-a-netherrealm-marvel-fighting-game/) NetherRealm is working on a Marvel game. If they're making that rather than Injustice 3, then you could've been preparing for an ownership shake-up for a while now. If you recall, last year when (https://archive.ph/plQlK) AT&T was trying to sell off WB Games.

Anarchic Fox on 18/5/2021 at 01:57

Yikes.

...Who owns Discovery Channel?

Edit: Ah, I see. They're owned by "Discovery, Inc." which owns about a dozen cable channels in total. That's a canny move, pretending to just be one channel.

faetal on 18/5/2021 at 11:48

Does this mean a potential lifting of the ridiculous patent on Shadow of Mordor's nemesis system?
Or will it just transfer to someone else?

EvaUnit02 on 18/5/2021 at 12:50

Quote Posted by faetal

Does this mean a potential lifting of the ridiculous patent on Shadow of Mordor's nemesis system?
Or will it just transfer to someone else?

Considering that tech companies have a history of buying out smaller companies to just get their patents, it'll likely transfer over.