Netflix has announced that it will buy Warner Bros following the separation of the company’s Discovery wing, and the gaming arm will be part of the deal.
In an announcement on the Netflix website, the company says it’s entered into an agreement to purchase Warner Bros for an eye-watering $82.7 billion, which puts this deal squarely above Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition (although this isn’t just a gaming company, so it’s perhaps an unfair comparison).
The deal will include not only Warner Bros’ movie and TV divisions (as well as streaming service HBO Max and the HBO channel in general), but also the gaming wing of the company, which owns major IPs like Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, and the DC Comics universe.
Warner Bros president David Zaslav says the deal combines “two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world”, while Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the acquisition will help to “define the next century of storytelling”. Lofty words.
Although Netflix’s acquisition does include Warner Bros’ gaming division, the streaming giant’s approach to the world of gaming hasn’t exactly been consistent recently.
Earlier this week, the company sold Cozy Grove developer Spry Fox back to its original co-founders, and it also shut down Squid Game: Unleashed developer Boss Fight Entertainment back in October.
That’s after the reported dissolution of the mooted “Team Blue” all-star development studio at Netflix, which boasted alumni from franchises like Overwatch and Halo, among others.
Of course, Warner Bros itself hasn’t had the best time in the gaming space recently; the company reported a “disappointing” 2024 back in February, following the failure of high-profile releases Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus.
Indeed, in January, then-gaming head David Haddad said he would step down from the company after 12 years, although it hasn’t all been bad for Warner Bros; wizarding RPG Hogwarts Legacy represents a major hit for the studio, having sold 30 million copies at last count.
We’ll have to wait and see whether Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros represents any sort of major policy shift for either company. Stay tuned for more.
