“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” said the CEOs in a statement. “However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”

Despite its pull back from the deal, Netflix went on to praise Warner Bros. Discovery’s leadership—namely David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer, and the company’s board for its “fair and rigorous process”. The streaming giant went on to note that the acquisition was considered a “nice to have” if the price were right, and not a “‘must have’ at any price”.

Moving forward, Netflix has confirmed plans to invest around $20 billion in films and shows to expand its streaming offerings. It will also resume its share repurchase program.

The original deal that Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery had agreed upon for the acquisition was valued at around $82.7 billion, with equity valued at $72 billion being part of the process. Rather than acquiring the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, however, Netflix was prioritizing its film and television studios, along with the HBO Max and HBO IPs.

Interestingly, the deal had made no mention of the various game studios part of Warner Bros. Discovery. Peters had said back in December that the gaming companies weren’t mentioned due to them being a “relatively minor” part of the deal in the grand scheme of things. Despite this, however, he also noted excitement to work with WB Games, saying that there is “definitely an opportunity there.”

“And maybe worth going back again to sort of how we thought about the deal and building our valuation model, while they definitely have been doing some great work in the game space, we actually didn’t attribute any value to that from the get-go because they’re relatively minor compared to the grand scheme of things,” said Peters. “Now we are super excited because some of those properties that they’ve built, Hogwarts Legacy is a great example of that, have been done quite well, and we think that we can incorporate that into what we’re offering. They’ve got great studios and great folks working there. So we believe that there’s definitely an opportunity there. But just to be clear, we haven’t built that into our deal model.”

For its part, Paramount Skydance has agreed to cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee to get Warner Bros. Discovery out of its deal with Netflix. The overall deal proposed by the company is valued at a around $111 billion, with WBD shares being valued at around $31 each in cash. The deal involves the entirety of the company, while Netflix had no plans to buy its linear cable networks.

While WB Games has done some impressive things, going as far as shouting out Hogwarts Legacy, he believes they are still “relatively minor” in the grand scheme of things. As a result, Netflix didn’t attribute any value to the gaming division. Once the deal is complete, however, Peters noted that Netflix is excited to work with WB Games and that there is “definitely an opportunity there”.

“And maybe worth going back again to sort of how we thought about the deal and building our valuation model, while they definitely have been doing some great work in the game space, we actually didn’t attribute any value to that from the get-go because they’re relatively minor compared to the grand scheme of things,” said Peters. “Now we are super excited because some of those properties that they’ve built, Hogwarts Legacy is a great example of that, have been done quite well, and we think that we can incorporate that into what we’re offering. They’ve got great studios and great folks working there. So we believe that there’s definitely an opportunity there. But just to be clear, we haven’t built that into our deal model.”

It is worth noting that there are several studios under the larger Warner Bros. Games umbrella, including heavy hitters like Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios, Batman: Arkham series developer Rocksteady Games, and Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software. However, it is also no secret that the gaming division has gone through a down period, thanks in large part to the failure of live-service titles like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus to make any reasonable dent in the market.

These had far-reaching effects on some studios, and a report from back in February indicates that they were part of the reason behind the closure of Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB Games San Diego. The closure of Monolith Productions was especially noteworthy as it also led to the cancellation of the in-development Wonder Woman game.

“This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games,” said the company when the studio’s closure was announced. “We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans, developed by our world-class studios, and getting our games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, “Our mission has always been to entertain the world. By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies – from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends – with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we’ll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

Co-CEO Greg Peters added that the acquisition “will improve our offering and accelerate our business for decades to come.” Praising Warner Bros. for helping to “define entertainment for more than a century,” he noted that, “With our global reach and proven business model, we can introduce a broader audience to the worlds they create—giving our members more options, attracting more fans to our best-in-class streaming service, strengthening the entire entertainment industry and creating more value for shareholders.”

Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said, “Today’s announcement combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love to watch the most. For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture. By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come.”

Several of Warner Bros.’ properties, from DC Comics to Mortal Kombat and Harry Potter, have ties to video games, so it’s interesting to note how this could affect their respective studios. For its part, Netflix has had mixed success with its foray into games – aside from layoffs, it also split from Cozy Grove and Spirit Crossing developer Spry Fox.

In the interview, Gunn acknowledged that there are some smaller-scale DC titles coming out – likely referring to games like the recently-unveiled LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight – but there are also bigger things in the works.

“There’s been some slight movement on different things,” Gunn said. “We have a couple of little DC games coming out. But we also have talked about – and in early stages of planning – some bigger things. One thing in particular I’m excited about, but it does take time. There’s been some changes in Warner Bros. Games, and so we’re dealing with new people.”

While what this means might be unclear, Gunn is likely referring to a lengthy process that likely involves not only just purely game development, but also other aspects of the business, like getting the right kind of pitches and finding the right studios to work on a particular style of game. As for what the bigger things that WB Games has in store for the future might entail, we can only hope that it isn’t another stab at live-service games like the infamous Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Gunn, along with co-CEO Peter Safran, had previously spoken similarly about how bigger games that take place in the DC universe will take time, and that it will likely be a while before players get to play the next big game.

“We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages,” Gunn said back in February, according to IGN. “We talk about those. We talk about when they’re talking about what the story might be, we say, ‘Well, maybe you want to go this way because we’re planning on maybe doing something with this character and so forth and so on,’ and help to deal with that.”

Back in May, Warner Bros. had revealed through its quarterly earnings report at the time that its gaming division had seen revenue fall by 48 percent. This fall could likely be attributed to games like MultiVersus and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failing commercially. In its earnings report, the company also cited that games like Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy continued to do well. It is worth noting that these revenue figures account for a three-month period ending on March 31, 2025.

The gaming division at Warner Bros. has been going through some rough things. Back in January, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, David Haddad, had announced that he was stepping down from his role.

Back in July, some job listings had popped up that indicated that Warner Bros. might be working on a new live-service game set in the DC universe. Details, however, have been scarce.

The job listing is for an executive producer that, according to the description, will be responsible for leading “the development of a high-quality AAA game based on one of the iconic IPs from the vast Warner Bros. and DC Comics catalog.”

The listing goes on to mention that responsibilities associated with the role will include overseeing various parts of the game’s development, as well as the development and progress of its “post-launch live operations”. The job listing is for WB Games Montreal, and will also involve the employee having to manage production budgets for the game as well as ensure that the QA processes, as well as live operations are robust.

The idea that Warner Bros. might be dipping into the live service well once again comes as quite a surprise, especially since, back in May, the company attributed major revenue shortfalls to the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. In its financial report at the time, the company noted that its revenue was buoyed by the success of Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy despite the lack of commercial performance of Suicide Squad.

Generally speaking, the company reported a revenue of $2.3 billion from its gaming studios – a year-on-year decrease of 16 percent. Overall revenues for the company, however, saw a 9 percent year-on-year increase, coming in at $9 billion.

The financial report came after the company had announced the closure of three of its studios: Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB Games San Diego. Monolith’s closure also led to the cancellation of the in-development Wonder Woman game at the studio.

“This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games,” said the studio when it announced the studio closures. “We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans, developed by our world-class studios, and getting our games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

While Warner Bros. itself hasn’t confirmed whether or not this was the case, rumours have indicated that the decision to cancel Wonder Woman came about because of the commercial failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The report also indicated that, before it was cancelled, Wonder Woman would have made use of the Nemesis system that Monolith had designed for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

The failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, as well as that of MultiVersus, had reportedly put WB Games in a bit of a hole.

While Rocksteady’s attempt at a live-service game might have been a massive failure, the company has still reported that other titles, including Mortal Kombat 1 and even 2023’s open-world title Hogwarts Legacy are continuing to generate more revenue for the company. A Minecraft Movie – a movie under the larger Warner Bros. umbrella – was also a big part of revenues, having grossed nearly $900 million in the global box office.

In gaming in particular, Warner Bros. has reported revenue of $2.3 billion from its Studios – a year-on-year decrease of 16 percent for the division. The company has reported an overall revenue of $9 billion, which is a 9 percent decrease year-on-year.

It is worth noting that, earlier this year, Warner Bros. had announced the closure of of three of its development studios: Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB Games San Diego. The closure of Monolith – the studio behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and its sequel Shadow of War – also meant that an in-development title based on Wonder Woman was also cancelled.

“This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games,” said the studio when it announced the studio closures. “We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans, developed by our world-class studios, and getting our games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

Back in March, WB Games had revealed that its future plans revolve around focusing its “resources and capital on proven IP and games from proven, world-class studios.” The company went on to say that its games division was “a strategic differentiator” that could work nicely with the host of IP that Warner Bros. as a whole can license. The company stated that it wants to focus on some of its biggest tentpole IPs, including Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC Comics.

“As we have previously said, 2024 was a disappointing year for our Games business and we have recently announced a restructuring plan to refocus our resources and capital on proven IP and games from proven, world-class studios,” said the company. “We are focusing our Games business around four tentpole franchises that have each generated over $1 billion in consumer sales in past years: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC – particularly top tier characters like Batman.”

In the meantime, there are rumours floating about that WB Games might be getting ready to release an unannounced game based on a new IP later this year.

While not too many details have become clear through Maraia’s profile so far, the fact that the game is slated for a 2025 release means that it has likely been under development for multiple years already. Maraia has been working as the Game Design Lead for this title for two years so far. Maraia has also listed various aspects of the game that he was in charge of, including the first-time user experience, narrative, quests, and player customisation.

It is worth noting that the description just indicates that it is a new game with an unannounced IP. This likely means that the title is part of a pre-existing IP, and will be an adaptation of one of several properties owned by Warner Bros. Were it a fresh game in a brand new franchise, the wording would have likely better accentuated this fact.

Alongside Monolith, Warner Bros. had announced the closure of quite a few studios earlier this year, including MultiVersus developer Player First Games, as well as WB Games San Diego. The company said that the decision to close these studios was made with “careful consideration.”

In a letter to its shareholders last month, Warner Bros. spoke about the plan going forward for its game development studios under the WB Games banner would be to focus more on making games based on “proven IP and games from proven, world-class studios.”

The letter echoed statements made by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who spoke about focusing efforts on the four major IPs owned by the company: Mortal Kombat, Hogwarts Legacy, Game of Thrones, and Batman.

“We’re through some of the worst — and it hasn’t been pretty on the gaming business — but we have four games that are really powerful and have a real constituency that love them, and we’re going to focus on those four primarily,” said Zaslav back in November. “We’re going to go away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games. I think we have a real chance now with focus to have the gaming business be steadier.”

“We have four strong and profitable game franchises with loyal, global fans: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC, in particular Batman. We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio.”

While Monolith Productions has been shut down, former executive from WB Games, Laura Fryer, revealed a few details about her time working with the studio as it launched titles like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. In a lengthy video, Fryer revealed quite a few details, including the fact that the game’s much-loved Nemesis system came about because the studio didn’t want players to be “done” with a game and then sell it off to someone else.

Warner Bros Games is working on a new unannounced IP, launching in 2025 pic.twitter.com/msrpETmHXh

— Timur222 (@bogorad222) April 9, 2025

A Minecraft Movie has also been doing quite well in international market, making an extra $144 million. This puts the combined box office debut for A Minecraft Movie at around $301 million. For context, the cost to produce A Minecraft Movie reportedly came in at around $150 million, not counting its global marketing costs.

While this is by no means confirmation on the matter, the fact that A Minecraft Movie has made so much money in just its opening weekend would indicate that Warner Bros. might have sequels planned.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would likely support endeavours for a sequel, since back in March, he spoke about wanting more video games to be adapted into movies and TV shows. In an interview, Spencer spoke about how Microsoft had learned from the mistakes it had made with its Halo adaptation, and would like to go ahead with adapting more of its properties for the big and little screen.

“We’re learning and growing through this process, which is giving us more confidence that we should do more,” said Spencer. “We learned from doing Halo. We learned from doing Fallout. So all of these build on themselves. And obviously we’ll have a couple that miss. But what I’d say to the Xbox community that likes this work is, ‘You’re going to see more, because we’re gaining confidence and we’re learning through this.’”

In the same interview, Legendary’s chairman of worldwide production, Mary Parent, spoke about why A Minecraft Movie has that title, rather than just Minecraft like the game it is based on. According to Parent, the movie’s title was chosen because the Minecraft games don’t have a singular story. Rather, stories in Minecraft are different depending on players, owing to the game’s sandbox nature.

“We’re calling it ‘A Minecraft Movie’ because we’re respecting the fact that there’s no one story that drives the game,” said Parent.

The last major adaptation of a Microsoft property was the Paramount+ Halo series. The show was ultimately cancelled after two seasons, owing to the heavy criticism it faced.

Other video game adaptations, however, have been doing quite well. Sega’s and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog movies, for instance, have made more than $1 billion at the global box office with three movies having been released.

When it comes to TV, shows like Amazon Prime’s Fallout, as well as HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us have both been well-received both in terms of critics as well as in terms of getting viewers. Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush also spoke about the Fallout show bringing in a new audience to the game, as well as older titles in the franchise.

The Last of Us will be premiering its second season on April 13.

Speaking during Warner Bros. Discover’s recent quarterly earnings call, when asked about the company’s gaming business and future, CEO David Zaslav revealed that the company will be looking to license out some of its IP to other, external development studios- which means internal Warner Bros. studios might not necessarily be the ones developing games on WB IP going forward.

“We have 11 studios here, and we have a lot of IP,” Zaslav said (transcription via IGN). “And there’s also a lot of interest among others in coming to take advantage of some of that IP for gaming, which we’re looking at. Because as JB [Perrette, president of global streaming and games] said, we need to get bigger, and the IP that we own and the value that it has in the gaming space is something we’re looking to take advantage of.”

The list of IP that WB has access to is mouthwatering, to say the very least, with heavy-hitters such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Batman, Superman, and many others included. The prospect of those properties being licensed out to developers across the industry – similar to the approach Marvel and Disney have taken in recent years – would certainly be an intriguing one.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be in a tough spot, and as its leadership considers a breakup of the company and grapples with a recent steep drop in stock prices, the company is reportedly looking to part ways with at least some of WB Games.

The Financial Times has claimed that in an attempt to counter some of those losses, the company is considering selling off some of its smaller assets, including a stake in its video game business.

WB Games owns a number of internal game development studios that work on major IP, including the likes of Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Wonder Woman developer Monolith Productions, Batman: Arkham and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League developer Rocksteady Studios, Mortal Kombat and Injustice developer NetherRealm Studios, and more.