Warner Bros. - The Gaming Giant?

[Kageho]

Well, Warner Bros. has added yet another gaming profile to their long list. With their aquistion of Turbine, Warner Bros. a ton of gaming properties in the aforementioned Turbine and NCSoft. They own the Lego gaming company who's name I forget. They also own a ton of Midway assests (Mortal Kombat) and Rocksteady (Batman Arkham Asylum).

What do you think about this? Me personally, I think it'll be interesting to see where exactly they go from here. Those companies I mentioned make some pretty good games, so if they want to branch out into the gaming industry, they are doing a good job.

The only thing I'm worried about is that they bought out Turbine specifically for the ability to use microtransactions. Since I play Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online, I'm worried we might get the same thing that WoW did in that instead of adding new stuff to the game they charge 20$ for it.

Then again they might use the microtransactions for DLC because that is required for it.

So what do you guys think?

 

[AndrewTS]

Travellers' Tales is the "Lego guys."

I don't expect it will really affect us much. It seems like they just bought into establishing franchises to mooch off their success. Nothing wrong with that. The only possible downside if that they sequel-whore them to death and the games ultimately suffer.

With the Lego games...uh...who would even notice anyway? Those games have been exactly the same from day one anyway, right?

Otherwise, we'll see.

The moment I hear Arkham Asylum 2 cutting major corners in presentation or creative direction, I'll begin to be wary, but so far it seems they'll not screw with it.

Mortal Kombat should be fine. MK9 is on its way, but MK vs. DC Universe 2 at some point would be awesome to see. The first MK vs. DC was the best 3D MK to date and a damn fun game in its own right.

 

[Obi Chris Kenobi]

Everything WB has acquired has pretty much slumped, though I'm not sure why, its not as if they have direct control or influence in the projects. I think they're more of an umbrella, grouping all these other developers together and take the rewards if any come.

 

[Kageho]

Actually my dad knows one of the team members from Turbine and from what he's gathered, Warner Bros is actually the guys who helped them with the financing (for lack of a better term, brain isn't really working at the moment too well) so it probably doesn't mean too much.

From everything I've read they seem to have aquired Turbine for the microtransactions as well as having all the licenses for Lord of the Rings. Would be kinda interesting to see LOTRO commercials on TV, since its actually a pretty good alternative to WoW.

 

[ChrisMWaters]

I just find it funny that Warner Bros. is coming full circle, as back in the early 80s they owned both Atari and a pre-major-boom SEGA.

At least that's what this video said:

http://www.retrowaretv.com/home/TheGamingHistorian/TheGamingHistorianEpisode10NintendoLawsuits/tabid/252/Default.aspx

 

[Obi Chris Kenobi]

Actually my dad knows one of the team members from Turbine and from what he's gathered, Warner Bros is actually the guys who helped them with the financing (for lack of a better term, brain isn't really working at the moment too well) so it probably doesn't mean too much.

From everything I've read they seem to have aquired Turbine for the microtransactions as well as having all the licenses for Lord of the Rings. Would be kinda interesting to see LOTRO commercials on TV, since its actually a pretty good alternative to WoW.

Thats the impression I had too, similar to what EA are currently doing with their acquisition of studios. They fund the projects, sit back and take a cut of the profits (if any). Its worked great for them as its seen an increase in EA's reputation (after its appalling slump in quality in the late 90s/early 00s). Its also seen us receive some new IPs!

 

[AndrewTS]

I just find it funny that Warner Bros. is coming full circle, as back in the early 80s they owned both Atari and a pre-major-boom SEGA.

Even funnier is Activision:

Before the formation of Activision, software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed. For example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers of the games, as they received no financial rewards for games that sold well, and did not receive credit for their games. This caused several programmers to resign from their jobs. Activision became the first third-party game publisher for game consoles.

The company was founded by former music industry executive Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Atari's company policy at the time was not to credit game creators for their individual contributions; Levy took the approach of crediting and promoting game creators along with the games themselves. The steps taken for this included devoting a page to the developer in their instruction manuals[7][8][9] and challenging players to send in a high score (usually as a photograph, but sometimes as a letter) in order to receive a patch.[10][11][12][13] These draws helped the newly formed company attract experienced talent. Crane, Kaplan, Levy, Miller, and Whitehead received the Game Developers Choice "First Penguin" award in 2003, in recognition of this step.

Activision, which once upon a time helped pave the way for better treatment of game developers and programmers, is now the gaming antichrist, having snatched the crown from EA easily. This is thanks in part for EA's recent improvements and Activision's continuing dedication towards screwing over employees and customers alike.

 

[Kageho]

I didn't know that Warner Bros owned both Activision and SEGA. Hm, if they owned them and they turned out ok and managed to go their own separate ways, then I guess Turbine will be fine as well. That's at least fun to know.

And yeah, it is kinda amazing how bad Act has fallen. You would think Act would've seen what EA did back then and how they were losing devs and studios and went "hm, we shouldn't be doing this."

Hey, if I'm not mistaken, didn't the guy who used to be EA's top guy before deciding to "leave" (forced out) join Act? Maybe that explains everything.

 

[AndrewTS]

Not sure who you mean, but as an anime fan, does it surprise you to know that Bobby Kotick used to be CEO of 4Kids?

 

[Kageho]

You know I forgot about that, but that would explain so much.