On July 6, The Information reported that Microsoft had expressed an interest in acquiring Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the gaming division of Warner Bros. AT&T is looking to sell WBIE to help offset its $154 billion debt largely brought on by its acquisition of TimeWarner, now called WarnerMedia. This would be a landscape-changing purchase if two things happen:
Microsoft actually buys the company
They retain all the gaming licenses for the DC Comics, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter intellectual properties
Studios owned by WBIE include Monolith Productions (Middle-Earth franchise), Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham trilogy), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat), TT Games (LEGO Games), WB Games Montreal (Batman: Arkham Origins), and Avalanche Software (rumored developer of upcoming Harry Potter RPG).
Take-Two Interactive, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard have expressed interest in purchasing the company as well, but none of them have the deep pockets of Microsoft ($1.58 trillion market capitalization). Supposedly, the asking price for all of WBIE is $4 billion. Simply put, if Microsoft really wants WBIE, it’s theirs for the taking. AT&T will most likely retain the licenses for the intellectual property so they continue to have a cut of the revenue from sales, but they can still give a publisher like Microsoft/Xbox the exclusive license to make games based on those properties. It should be similar to how Disney has let EA (and only EA) use the license for Star Wars.
If Microsoft adds all of these properties to their first-party lineup, they will move ahead of Sony. That IP attracts non-gamers and casual gamers just as much as the hardcore player base. However, if for some (unlikely) reason, Microsoft doesn’t get to use the licenses, then we’ll just have to wait and see what Microsoft will do with its new acquisitions. It would still be a fantastic addition purely in terms of assets, staff, and proprietary technology.
There’s also the chance that AT&T decides to sell the studios to different publishers, but I hope Microsoft shells out the cash and buys all of it.
Microsoft might be making a power play. It’s no secret that Sony has dominated this generation of gaming, selling approximately 110 million consoles since the PS4’s launch in 2013. This can be largely attributed to Sony’s all-star first-party exclusive lineup of games as well as Microsoft’s act of seppuku at E3 2013 where they announced multiple anti-consumerist policies in connection with their Xbox One.
Xbox One has recovered about as well as they can. Microsoft effectively booted Don Mattrick as head of Xbox after his self-implosion in 2013 and promoted Phil Spencer to help re-instill the idea that Xbox is a gaming console and the primary focus is gaming. With the cancellation of multiple exclusives, Xbox had to find a way to retain their player-base. By introducing Xbox GamePass, elevating and expanding backwards compatibility, purchasing Mojang (developers of Minecraft), launching xCloud and the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and increasing the number of first-party studios under the Xbox brand, Spencer has been a key part of a revitalization for Xbox.
Although these initiatives have helped Xbox survive this generation, Sony/PlayStation is still seen as the top dog and industry leader heading into the next generation, primarily due to their stellar exclusives. I am an Xbox owner currently, but if they do not impress me with the first-party lineup for the upcoming generation at their event on July 23rd, I will start to look at PS5 as my next console purchase. The last PlayStation console my brother and I owned was the PS2 so we could play Bully and GTA: San Andreas. I also became a huge Ratchet & Clank fan. But we’re an Xbox family and we got the Xbox 360 which was the right decision for that generation. Then Xbox One happened.
All Xbox really has at the moment is the Halo, Forza, and Gears of War franchises. Here’s a list of PlayStation games I would rather play than those franchises:
Spider-Man
Ratchet & Clank
Uncharted
God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Horizon: Zero Dawn
MLB: The Show
That could all change with this purchase.
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