MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group in the US has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, a privately held developer of interactive entertainment targeted at teens and adults.
This continues Warner Bros.’ activities as a games publisher.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group president Kevin Tsujihara says, “Rocksteady demonstrated its professionalism and extraordinary development abilities with Batman: Arkham Asylum. This arrangement is a great strategic fit and we are very pleased to solidify our relationship with this talented development team.”
Founded in 2004 in London, England, Rocksteady specialises in developing action-adventure video games, including Batman: Arkham Asylum. The title has shipped over three million units worldwide.
Warner Bros. continues to grow its games business through key acquisitions, building internal development capabilities, leveraging its global video distribution infrastructure, and focusing on developing major games franchises such as Batman, Mortal Kombat, The Lord of the Rings and Lego.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president Martin Tremblay says, “With the successful release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a franchise that is a key focus for Warner Bros., Rocksteady has proven that they have the expertise to create hit games with mass appeal. We are currently working with Rocksteady on the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and look forward to bringing the continuation of the franchise to fans worldwide.”
Warner Bros. UK president, MD Josh Berger says, “We are delighted to be deepening our relationship with London-based Rocksteady Studios, one of the UK‘s most respected games developers and 2009 recipient of the VGA’s coveted ‘studio of the year’ award. Rocksteady clearly has the talent, expertise and technology to make great games and we are fortunate to continue working closely with them as we further expand our games portfolio.”
In 2007, Warner Bros. acquired TT Games, developer of the Lego-based game franchises, including Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman. Early last year, Warner Bros. acquired Snowblind Studios to develop its The Lord of the Rings games franchise, with the first title expected to be released in 2011. Most recently, Warner Bros. purchased the primary assets of Midway Games.
Midway published the Mortal Kombat franchise, which has sold over 26 million units worldwide, and owned a robust IP catalog and broadly applicable game engine technology. As part of the transaction, Warner Bros. acquired two development studios to focus on the Mortal Kombat franchise as well as other key properties.
