Earlier this month, various Abu Dhabi-based companies invested $500 million to fund Warner Bros’ gaming department. During an interview with Gamasutra, Samantha Ryan, senior vice president of WB’s Seattle office, went into more detail regarding the investment and WB’s plans with the money.
First, Ryan revealed that WB definitely will boost up its gaming division and is already preparing a new WB Games studio in Seattle. After the company’s success with 300 for PSP and a few Looney Tunes games, WB will step further into the gaming marketplace.
Ryan said, "Warner Bros. is a content company that focuses on great content people love, and games are an increasingly important part of the way consumers enjoy content. It makes perfect sense for WB to get involved. Those have gone well, so we are ready to play in this space a bit."
To fill the space of the new studio, WB is thinking of using some of the investment to purchase some growing developer studios. WB currently only owns one developer, Monolith Productions, so they’re looking for some good studios to acquire. There’s a rumor that WB may purchase British publisher SCi too.
Ryan said, "Like many publishers, a lot of the games we produce will be created by external developers, and we are bullish about acquiring more internal development. Currently Monolith are the only studio we own, and are big believers that internal production needs to grow — so we are on the lookout for good studios to acquire."
Lastly, Ryan revealed that WB currently has 12 games in development, such as Speed Racer and Project Origin. As for the other 10 unannounced games? Ryan said that WB will begin venturing into other genres and original IPs.
"Monolith is awesome in the FPS space, but I need developers in the other spaces too. We’re looking for original IP, but in other genres besides shooters."
