A few weeks back, it was reported that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment might be looking to be sold off by parent company AT&T. At the time, publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision were said to be interested in purchasing the brand. Now, another interesting suitor has seemingly come forward.
According to a new report from The Information, Microsoft has apparently expressed interest in purchasing Warner Bros. and its stable of games. The news is said to come by way of two independent sources familiar with the matter. If this is indeed true, it would see developers like Rocksteady, WB Montreal, and NetherRealm Studios joining Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios publishing brand. Additionally, numerous IPs such as Batman, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Mortal Kombat would then be under Microsoft’s control, too.
This move, assuming that there is validity to it, does potentially make a lot of sense. For starters, Microsoft has enough capital on-hand to make a purchase like this in the first place. AT&T is reported to be looking for a sale in the realm of $4 billion if it were to move forward.
There’s also the fact that the Xbox label over the past few years has made a concentrated effort to add more studios under its domain. In recent years, companies such as Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Obsidian, Playground Games, and inXile have all been picked up by Microsoft at one point or another. As the publisher looks to begin shipping the Xbox Series X later this year, it has made clear to potential buyers that first-party games are a key focus in the future.
While it remains to be seen if Xbox (or AT&T) would actually go for a move like this, it definitely seems like it’d be a potential home run for Microsoft if they could find a way to make it work. Even though some fans would surely be disappointed that titles like Mortal Kombat, Batman Arkham, and the LEGO franchise would seemingly longer come to all platforms, the boost that this would be to Microsoft’s publishing lineup would be immeasurable.
We’ll keep you up to date on this story moving forward if there are any new developments.
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Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/microsoft-purchase-warner-bros-report/
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