No reason to be calm for game studios
In a press release released today, Warner Bros said it is looking for ways to optimize shareholder income, and for this, several solutions are on the table. The first is that of a split of the company in two, already discussed in the past, which would in some way amount to revisiting the merger between Warner Bros and Discovery. On paper, this solution is obviously not very winning for Warner Bros Games, given that the new structure forces it to focus only on certain strong licenses, and nothing else (while being even closer to Zaslav’s management).
But who knows if the other solutions are not worse. Warner Bros here formalizes the idea of being resold, in its entirety. This follows rumors of a takeover by Skydance, but it also means that other potential buyers could join in the dance. Then comes the hypothesis of a trickle-down buyout. Understand from this that Warner Bros is also open to only selling certain parts of its business. And again, think of Warner Bros Games, which would be a perfect candidate for a partial resale of the genre:
“ As part of this process, the Warner Bros. board of directors. Discovery will evaluate a wide range of strategic options, including continuing the planned spin-off of the Company until completion by mid-2026, a transaction for the entire Company, or separate transactions for its Warner Bros. businesses. and/or Discovery Global. As part of this review, the Company will also explore an alternative spin-off structure that would allow for a merger of Warner Bros. and a spin-off of Discovery Global for our shareholders. »
If such scenarios were to occur, Warner Bros Games’ projects will necessarily be impacted. Not necessarily canceled, but at least slowed down, apart from certain sure commercial values like a Hogwarts Legacy 2 which has certainly already received production approval, and which the potential new owner will undoubtedly not want to ignore. But in all options, it is massive layoffs that are to be feared, and it is difficult to see how the publisher could avoid them.