510°

WB Games Studios Splitting Ownership After WarnerMedia & Discovery Merger

WB Games' studios are shuffling ownership due to the WarnerMedia & Discovery merger, with some staying with parent company AT&T & some going to Discovery Inc.

Orchard1113d ago

How long before Discovery sells off the gaming division to Microsoft...

excaliburps1113d ago

That's a definite possibility...

phoenixwing1113d ago

You better hope it's microsoft and not apple/amazon/google. Microsoft at least is somewhat competent when it comes to games and would let it be on a lot of systems.

gamesftw2501113d ago

Lord help us if Google gets a hold of WB.

Sonic-and-Crash1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

no matter who will buy it ...Super Heroes dont sell in videogames that s a fact (except Spiderman for specific artistic reasons, but even he needs huge AAA production behind it Sony+Insomniac )..

No matter how much they try Marvel and Warner cant find a soft spot in gamers ...As MK ip ...imo all their games never were extremely valuable but they have some value if they are handled with care

i dont see any serious company tocare buying them ...they ill wait to absorb their developers individually imo

excaliburps1113d ago

I actually didn't think of that. You mean to tell me you don't want to see Stadia 2.0? ^_^

neutralgamer19921113d ago

phoenixwing

Why not Sony or Nintendo so they know how to produce much better quality titles with many many GOTY winners

phoenixwing1113d ago

@neutralgamer
It would be fine if nintendo or sony got them but I just expect microsoft to spend the cash where sony will go for something that's a more natural fit to their studios like buying housemarque

itsmebryan1113d ago

@sonic
Are you saying none of their batman games sold well?

CorndogBurglar1112d ago (Edited 1112d ago )

@Sonic-and-Crash

What are you talking about? Yes Spider-Man does well. But what about the Arkham Batman series? The Injustice games? Hell, even the Ultimate Alliance games were loved by fans and sold well.

In fact, everyone was really pumped about Avengers as well, until it turned out to be a steaming pile of crap in a genre no one wanted it to be in.

If anything its been proven that if a good, high quality superhero game is made, they do well. Shocking, I know, since thats basically the case with any game.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 1112d ago
jukins1113d ago

Itll be a tough buy for anyone because a lot of properties wb games has are licensed and those rights revert back to the owner so dc games lord of the rings games the lego games would all be back at att or discovery.

That being said, microsoft could definitely afford to lose money just to have mortal kombat exclusive to its ecosystem. And even as a huge ps fan that would definetly make alot of people want an xbox just for mk

darthv721113d ago

But do we know who is going where? From the look of it, DC may be splitting between the two. So one side could be making the Gotham game and the other is doing Suicide Squad game.

1Victor1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

The article said WB keeps DC but it doesn’t say if it’s the comics or the games

Christopher1113d ago

That would be dumb unless they can maintain the licenses of those studios for at minimum 10 years. Not likely. It's the licenses that are the moneymakers, not the studios. And those licenses aren't being sold by DC.

Atom6661113d ago

Chances may have improved. The prior asking price was pretty high for teams with minimal IP of their own. There was little incentive to lower the price before with all of that debt on the books.

They do still have a lot of big projects releasing over the next 2 years. So the safer bet is to look for a sale in 2023 or so.

ApocalypseShadow1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

Could just as well be any other company from Sony, Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. It's not always about money. But of quality.

If Marvel was all about the highest bidder, Spider-Man would be on Xbox. So far, it hasn't happened unless Disney and Marvel pull a MLB. But with Sony's ownership of movie Spider-Man, what's the chance of that?

Would be kind of interesting through. Spider-Man swinging through Gotham on PlayStation.

glennhkboy1112d ago

Spider-Man licenses to Sony is not just about game. It includes the whole IP within the Spider-Man comic. That was the time when Marvel almost bankrupted. The deal was not about quality (of both movie or game), it was about MONEY. Pure and simple.

CaptainHenry9161113d ago

Hmm I don't think Microsoft will spend another 7 Billion when they don't have too.

Sonyslave31113d ago

Lol ms already said after they brought zenimax they still look for more studios n publisher to buy.

Darkborn1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

But why? They still probably havnt profited since buying all those studios in 2018 and they just spent 7.5b. Xbox hardware bleeds money, gamepass bleeds money, and their first party games bleed money. I'm sure the Microsoft execs want a return on investment at some point.

Edit* I forgot to mention they just bought zenimax with like 5 lawsuits ongoing. They have to also convince Microsoft that that purchase will be profitable too.

1113d ago Replies(1)
SPEAKxTHExTRUTH1113d ago

Would it be better if Sony or Nintendo bought them? You sound kind of salty.

ApocalypseShadow1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

The typical response from an Xbox fan with no counter debate: "you're salty." Lol

Yeah. Sony dominating Microsoft generation after generation, making hit after award winning hit, has actual new games released for a new console, has VR and another headset that's coming that's going to blow gamer's away. Yeah. I'm sooooo salty from Microsoft's failures. What was that? You said something about "Craig?" The 500 million dollars of failure reveal? That needs millions more to fix it? Oh yeah. I'm great sprinkled on a pickle.

Try again. Warner would be way better out of Microsoft's hands. At least with Sony, you know Warner games would get game of the year nominations. With Microsoft, it's engagement numbers with barely anyone buying the games.

1112d ago
IRetrouk1112d ago (Edited 1112d ago )

How will they do that? At&t will own 71% of the new company while discovery will own 29%...

+ Show (9) more repliesLast reply 1112d ago
Knightofelemia1113d ago (Edited 1113d ago )

Only time will tell how this will pan out can't wait for Rocksteady to make a nature game that plays like the Arkham games.

Tedakin1113d ago

Mortal Kombat as a Stadia exclusive would be.....

Christopher1113d ago

A failure for esport pros who don't live in regions with Stadia or close proximity to google server centers processing the servers.

Rainbowcookie1113d ago

Only interested in the nemesis system joining a batman game... thats it

Christopher1113d ago

That would be fun in general. Take all the powers of DC villains, mix them up in a nemesis system, have fun fighting some ridiculous cross-over villains.

Darkborn1113d ago

I do wonder who buys them. I just hope it's not tencent.

Christopher1113d ago

No news of them selling anything right now. None.

Darkborn1113d ago

True, but they clearly don't want them. They've tried selling a little over a year ago too.

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130°

Why is Steam Blocked in Vietnam? Government Shares Reason

Finally, the Vietnamese government has officially responded to Steam being blocked in the country.

Read Full Story >>
spieltimes.com
blacktiger9h ago

AMAZING! Thank You Gabe, stand for freedom of speech!!!!

PRIMORDUS9h ago

VPN to buy games, fuck that if it's allowed or not, or just use a VPN and torrent what you can.

Knightofelemia2h ago

If the game is crap then yes there will always be negative feedback it comes with the territory. It's called word of mouth or welcome to the internet. Where the truth about a game comes out really fast whether the game is good or crap. If you can't handle the criticism because of a game then why publish the game. Why should people who never criticized or even played the game be punished? Vietnam has some really screwed up laws block Steam because they don't answer us rule. And going on a witch hunt with Steam please. Where's the proof, where's the evidence of this witch hunt. Somebody is butt hurt and has a Vietnamese Karen leading the witch hunt.

250°

Take-Two CEO Doesn’t Think AI Will Reduce Employment or Dev Costs; “Stupidest Thing” He’s Heard

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't think AI will reduce employment or lower development costs, and calls it "stupidest thing" he's ever heard.

lodossrage1d 16h ago (Edited 1d 16h ago )

They already have AI trained to do coding.......

How he thinks it's stupid is beyond me, Especially since we see it happening in real time.

CS71d 13h ago

Company A has 300 employees and lays of 200 to replace them with AI to release the same quality game.

Company B has 300 employees and keeps all 300 but instead uses AI to release a game with dramatically larger scale, scope, complexity, short dev cycle etc.

Company B would release a dramatically better product by using humans + AI and consumers would buy the better game.

I actually agree with this concept.

Huey_My_D_Long1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

This is key facet. Its how the AI is used. It's actually is impressive as is and really would make an amazing addition to alot of people in their jobs, not just tech. It also has the potential for businesses to use to lay off large amounts of people, as much as they could to save money on labor. I hope too many companies don't go with the latter. But since usually companies are worried about bottom line over people...we will see some try and hopefully fail. But yeah, if its to help workers like in your company B scenario I'm totally down...Just scared Company A may be too enticing to some ceos and businesses.

Darkegg1d 13h ago

Value of AI and value of humans will both be increased with human-AI complex. Each, by themselves, will not be independently better than the other. Whether AI will ever be independent from humans is the fear question of humans, ironically because of our doing. At this stage, most of the doing is because of humans, not because of AI. AI is doing exactly that by our design, until we have failed ourselves with an AI development that went awry. The biggest take is that humans have only ourselves to blame when things become wrong, and we have to decide what is the ultimate goal with AI we want to accomplish. It would take a person with high morals and high ethics to make right of AI. I would not want businessman to decide what AI should do or what capabilities it can have. AI should be in the hands of people with high moral fiber, or those operating on love, kindness, and compassion.

BlackOni1d 12h ago

AI is SUPPOSED to be used as a tool, not a replacement. It's designed to do two important things artists can take advantage of immediately.

- Make the ideation/reference imaging process much quicker and easier (basically using it as a google search)
- Make mundane and time consuming tasks faster and easier so more time is spent on creation.

Unfortunately, what many have done is used it as a way to replace rather than supplement.

Einhander19721d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

CS7

In the ideal world yes.

In the real world where companies have shown little desire to innovate and spent every effort to maximize profits the end result will be the same quality games (if were lucky) made by less people and more AI.

Company Real World: Fires 200 people and makes the same game cheaper using AI and the executives get record bonuses.

Edit:

Lets look at history, specifically auto manufacturing.

In the 70's and 80's the auto unions tried to oppose automation of jobs (robots) stating that they would take peoples jobs. And the people in charge who wanted to make more money said the exact same types of things that are being said about AI. But we can look at history and see that countless types of jobs were in fact replaced by automation, that was of course even compounded upon by computers.

The net effect was that the rich got richer less jobs were needed so wages were forced down by competition for the jobs that were left.

hombreacabado15h ago

that concept works in the initial beginning phase of AI but once AI learns and surpasses the knowledge and coding expertise of even the best human employee than this CEO will no longer need competent humans in that line of work.

Extermin8or3_13h ago

@Hue_My£D_Long

Yes but that is a choice then by massively increased productivity and this greater income and wealth and stagnating with similar levels of productivity and output and not creating much wealth. Usually the option that creates wealth prevails because a rising tide raises all ships.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 13h ago
Number1TailzFan1d 13h ago

You can already make your own SFX with text prompts now as well, of course it will lower development cost and time

1Victor1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

WARNING WARNING ‼️ SARCASM AHEAD
Sure Strauss and robots didn’t take jobs from car factories.
Edit:Sad thing is he believes it and unfortunately he won’t be replaced for a long time by AI

senorfartcushion1d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

He doesn't, he's just lying. These people lay people off so they can get bonuses. If AI takes jobs, their bonus goes bigger and the workforce goes smaller.

porkChop1d 9h ago

Because he sees AI as a tool to aid development. He wants to use AI to help make bigger and better games in the same timeframe. Other CEOs want to replace devs with AI to cut costs and make lifeless games faster for a quick buck. Strauss has the right idea, this is how AI should be used. To extend and expand the capabilities of devs.

neutralgamer199214h ago

There will be few companies who will go overboard and try to replace their employees with AI tech. The ones that will make the most money will be the ones that utilize ai, along with their employee talent, to make the best product possible

AI could handle some of the most time consuming processes. To expediate the development, so in return, costing the publisher's last money end time.

Extermin8or3_13h ago

Not reliably they haven't. Coding done by ai is generally abysmal for all but the most generic tasks.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 13h ago
jambola1d 15h ago

Ceo says stupid thing
Part 5837384

Zeref1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

I think maybe sometimes we give people in these positions too much credit when it comes to intelligence.

DarXyde18h ago

I think you mean candor, not intelligence.

If you take him to mean what he's saying at face value, sure.

I don't. And I think he's clearly lying.

romulus231d 14h ago

As long as it doesn't effect his inflated executive salary or his ridiculous bonuses I'm sure he's fine with it.

RNTody1d 13h ago

Hahaha yeah trust the CEO suit over the actual developers making the games. Good one.

Show all comments (37)
200°

Sony shares big new PS Plus stat, but not the one we want to see

PlayStation Plus has improved the split of PS4 and PS5 players on its priciest tiers, but Sony continues to hide total subscriber numbers.

Read Full Story >>
theloadout.com
mandf3d ago

lol acting like it’s equivalent to ms numbers

Mr Logic3d ago

Uh...They're definitely not equivalent.

"Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service now has 34 million subscribers."

"the total number of PS Plus subscribers across all tiers was 47.4 million"

darthv723d ago (Edited 3d ago )

That PSN number seems like it should be much higher... especially when you consider that PS4 alone has a sell through of over 117m. To not even be at least half that is rather interesting.

To the XB side, having 34m to an install base of roughly 50m (XBO sell through) or even 85m (360 sell through) is a greater percentage of unit to member ratio than PSN.

bloop3d ago

That's not the "gotcha" you think it is Darth.

darthv723d ago

^^it's not supposed to be bloop.... it's just an interesting observation.

Einhander19723d ago

darthv72

"That PSN number seems like it should be much higher... especially when you consider that PS4 alone has a sell through of over 117m. To not even be at least half that is rather interesting.

To the XB side, having 34m to an install base of roughly 50m (XBO sell through) or even 85m (360 sell through) is a greater percentage of unit to member ratio than PSN."

Have you ever heard of a PC before? I hear they are pretty popular.

fr0sty2d ago

MS started lumping gold subscribers in with those GP numbers... keep in mind.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2d ago
shinoff21833d ago (Edited 3d ago )

What. Definitely more os plus subscribers but that makes sense due to actual console sales

Darth the difference between the bases are huge your right but you gotta think. Ps players buy more games, where as the Xbox base relies on gamepass for their gaming. So it makes perfect sense

darthv723d ago (Edited 3d ago )

What makes perfect sense though? You say PS players buy more games... so then logically there should be more PS+ subscribers given the increased number of online multiplayer games in the PS4 generation alone. The PS4 was the first time that + was required for online play much like Gold was for 360 users.

Keep in mind we are talking subscribers, not simply XB/PS users. I assume you meant to say offline single player games, which is most likely true as well. That gen also saw a significant increase in games with an online component comparted to the previous gen.

victorMaje3d ago

I for one will be going back to essential at the next renewal. When I feel a game is good & right up my alley, I’ll check trusted reviews & just buy it.

jznrpg3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

I have the top tier until 2028 as they gave me a massive discount for all the years I had left but I’ll most likely go to essential as well. I buy my games but my kids do use the service occasionally. They do prefer to own their games as well since any game can leave the rental service at some point and they don’t like that idea. They mostly use it to demo games then ask me to buy games if they really like it.

RedDevils3d ago

For me, I will cancel it all together but unfortunately I still have it till 2030 lol

meganick3d ago

I would like to see Sony add a fourth tier of PS Plus for people who just want to be able to play games online without any of the perks like monthly games, store discounts, or anything like that, and it should cost $20 annually, $30 maximum. There’s no way I’m paying $80 just to play games online. Even the original $60 fee was too much, and I would often wait for sales to re-up my subscription.

P_Bomb3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Essential is too expensive, I agree. We’ve got one Essential and one Premium sub. Dropping the Premium when it expires.

gamerz3d ago

Just let my subscription lapse for the first time since 2010. Will sub again every now and then for a month or so to access my old ps+ games but for me it's the end of an era.

DivineHand1253d ago

Let those numbers continue to drop because it is now too expensive. $80 per year just to play online. I noticed they didn't offer any discounts on the subscription or controllers during this year's days of play for the first time in many years and they will feel it when people choose not to renew.

My subscription will lapse next month and it will stay that way until further notice.

KevtheDuff2d ago

There were savings on subs and controllers here in the UK? I bought a controller yesterday in the sale..
It would be weird if those deals were not in other territories too?