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Microsoft's Latest Company Looking To Acquire Warner Bros. Interactive
Microsoft is the latest publisher interested in acquiring publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which would greatly bolster Xbox Game Studios. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which is currently owned by AT&T after merging with WarnerMedia, publishes several popular video game franchises such as the Batman: Arkham series, Mortal Kombat, the Middle-earth series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, and much more.
AT&T has been looking to sell off Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to reduce its $154 billion debt, a large majority of which stemmed from its purchase of WB Interactive parent company WarnerMedia for $109 billion back in 2018. One of the conglomerate’s investors pushed for the sale of “non-core assets” such as DirecTV and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. If a deal is made to sell its game division, it could be worth up to $4 billion. Other companies that have also expressed interest in purchasing the publisher, including Take-Two Interactive, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard, although AT&T is still reportedly undecided on whether to go ahead with the sale.
The Information reported that Microsoft has also expressed interest in purchasing Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to further expand the number of game studios and well-established IPs under its umbrella, as purchasing the game division from AT&T would also give Microsoft the opportunity to purchase the studios under it. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment owns several studios globally, such as TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, Avalanche Software, and WB Games studios in Boston, Montréal, and San Francisco.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios, which was renamed from Microsoft Studios in 2019, currently owns a total of 15 game studios, including Double Fine, Compulsion Games, inXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, The Coalition, Turn 10 Studios, 343 Industries, and more. Purchasing Warner Bros. Interactive could potentially bring the number of studios under Xbox Game Studios' wing to almost 30 and give them the licenses to franchises based on Harry Potter, LEGO, and even the rumored new Batman: Arkham game.
Purchasing Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment could help Microsoft and its Xbox Game Studios significantly increase the number of exclusives it could release for its next-generation Xbox Series X console, which could allow it to match or even surpass Sony’s PlayStation 5 line-up. Among the companies that have expressed interest in purchasing Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft looks to be in a good position to purchase the company. That is, if AT&T does finally decide to sell, given its advantageous position as one of the biggest technology companies in the world.
