Blink and you'll miss it: Paramount almost acknowledges the existence of Warner Bros. Games
The pathway for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery—and by extension Warner Bros. Games—has been cleared after U.S. streamer Netflix withdrew from the bidding war last week.
Assuming the deal receives regulatory approval (which is, admittedly, not guaranteed), Paramount Skydance expects the acquisition to close in Q3 2026.
Where, though, will that leave Warner Bros. Games and its litany of development studios, which includes the likes of Rocksteady, NetherRealm, and TT Games? The answer to that question remains profoundly unclear, with Paramount's executive team largely ignoring the video game division during an investor presentation yesterday.
In fact, Warner Bros. Games was (barely) mentioned only once during the 30-plus minute event: a single not-quite-a-name-drop on a presentation slide that described Warner Bros. Discovery as the owner of "cutting-edge gaming and interactive content capabilities."
The slide in question (featured below) positions those gaming capacities as part of the "creative engines" at the core of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
That was it. The solitary mention of an entire division that has produced notable video game franchises such as Batman Arkham, Mortal Kombat, and the LEGO series.
It is also, of course, a business that has struggled in recent years, with multiple studio closures preceding a IP-focused reorganisation that arrived after major titles like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Multiversus underperformed.
When asked whether Paramount intends to divest any assets that are "noncore" to the company, chairman and CEO David Ellison said that is currently not part of the plan. "No, very simply, we have no divestitures planned at this time. So just take that one, that's our answer there," he added.
Ellison also described television network HBO as the "crown jewel" in Warner Bros. Discovery's business before going on to wax lyrical about the creative virtues of AI technology. "I do believe that it's going to be a transformative technology in the space. But first and foremost, we are a content company. We are a storytelling company. And we really do look at AI as a tool for artists and really want to develop it basically through that lens," added Ellison.
It's a view that has commonly been touted by execs across the game industry—though not so much by rank-and-file developers—so it seems like Ellison will be in good company if he does decide to keep Warner Bros. Games kicking around.
Game Developer has reached out to Paramount Skydance for comment.
