It’s now being reported that Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Games and NetherRealm Studios, is now officially considering acquisition offers for a partial or whole sale of the company.
“It’s no surprise that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market,” said David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“After receiving interest from multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our assets.”
“After receiving interest from multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our assets.” — David Zaslav
This is all happening during a time in which Warner Bros. and Discovery Global is attempting to advance the separation of the two companies. They’ve apparently been receiving unsolicited interesting from outside parties about the entire company and Warner Bros. specifically.
Notably, the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. occurred back in April 2022 after being initially announced back in May 2021. For now, this news puts into question what the future of the company could look like.
As alluded to before, this could potentially affect NetherRealm Studios, the game development studio behind the Mortal Kombat and Injustice intellectual properties. Warner Bros. acquired most of Midway Games’ assets back in 2009, including Mortal Kombat, back when Midway was forced to declare bankruptcy.
Earlier this year, Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition was revealed. This was a significant moment considering how the announcement of a “definitive edition” for previous NetherRealm Studios games marked the end of post-launch support for that era.
Shortly afterwards, NetherRealm Studios confirmed that this was the case. Though Mortal Kombat 1 could receive more balance updates, the development team was finished with adding DLC and story content.
Additionally, NetherRealm Studios outright declared that they were shifting focus on their next project. It will likely be a few years before more concrete details of this project get officially revealed.
Injustice 3 would be later “leaked” by multiple voice actors. Predictably, statements about Injustice 3 being in development were later retracted.
An acquisition of Warner Bros. Games or NetherRealm Studios could have major implications for whatever this next project is. It could also have a major impact on the future of NetherRealm Studios titles.
Mortal Kombat 1 has reportedly sold over 6.2 million units. These are some especially strong numbers for a fighting game, but it’s worth mentioning that it underperformed compared to the previous entry, Mortal Kombat 11, which was able to push over 15 million units.
Overall, there have been a number of struggles for Warner Bros. Games this year. Back in June, MultiVersus was officially shut down shortly after the launch of Season 5.
This was a sad outcome considering that it hadn’t even been a full year since Warner Bros. had acquired Player First Games, the gaming subsidiary behind MultiVersus. Of course, this news meant that Player First Games was also being closed down with its employees laid off.
Outside of fighting games, it was also reported that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a game by Rocksteady Studios, ended up being a commercial flop for Warner Bros. Games. This ultimately resulted in a $200 million loss for Warner Bros.
Needless to say, these problems are likely some of the causes of Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to considering offers of purchase for the company. We’ll just have to see how things play out from here.