It’s been a roller coaster of a month for Warner Bros. Interactive following a series of major rumors that its parent company, AT&T, was looking to sell off its games division, with big-name publishers including EA and Microsoft interested in the sale. At least for the time being, those rumors have been put to bed and WB Games will be staying put.
WB Games is currently working on a number of new titles, but for fans curious what’s under that umbrella (whether it’s eventually sold or not), it’s time to explore every studio under the WB Games banner.
Best known for being the studio behind the popular toys-to-life series Disney Infinity, Avalanche Software was closed in 2016 when Disney departed the video games industry and was later acquired by WB Games. Since the acquisition, Avalanche Software released Cars 3: Driven to Win in June 2017 and has remained quiet ever since. It’s heavily speculated that Avalanche is currently developing the leaked Harry Potter RPG, originating with a job listing that called for a Senior Writer with a “deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation,” and many are likely waiting with bated breath for this announcement to finally happen…at some point.
Monolith Production made a name for itself in the early 2000s after the studio was acquired by WB Games, releasing well-known horror series including Condemned and F.E.A.R. However, Monolith is perhaps best known as the developer of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its 2017 sequel, Shadow of War. When it comes to new game announcements, the studio has remained quiet for the last couple of years, but given the success of its Middle-Earth series, it seems safe to say that a third game is more than likely in development for next-generation consoles to close out the trilogy.
For the past five years, fans have been desperate to learn anything about the next game from Batman Arkham creator Rocksteady Studios. And last week, after endless rumors that ranged from Superman to Batman Beyond, Rocksteady finally confirmed that its next game would be based on DC’s Suicide Squad and the full reveal will take place later this week during DC FanDome. Based on what’s been revealed, there’s not a lot of details out there about Suicide Squad, but it is speculated to kick off a new DC Games connected universe that includes a new Batman game from WB Montreal.
NetherRealm Studios was founded by WB Games in 2010 and took over development of the Mortal Kombat franchise with 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot. Led by industry veteran Ed Boon, NetherRealm has made a name for itself as a prestigious fighting game developer and currently alternates between new entries in the Mortal Kombat series and its DC Comics-based Injustice series. In 2017, the studio released Injustice 2, followed by Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019. While it’s likely a couple of years from release, it seems like a safe bet that NetherRealm is working on the highly-anticipated Injustice 3, and there’s a chance it’s announced at DC FanDome.
Founded in 2017, Portkey Games was created to build new experiences based on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and acts as a label and publisher on mobile games rather than developer. Portkey Games helped usher the release of Jam City’s Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery in 2018 and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite in 2019, co-developed by Niantic and WB Games San Francisco. At the moment, Portkey Games is known to be working on two new mobile games including Harry Potter: Magic Awakened from NetEase and Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells from Zynga, although neither game currently has a confirmed release date.
While TT Games features a range of different branches that focus on animation, publishing, and mobile games, the company is best known as the developer behind video games based on Lego including LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and LEGO Harry Potter. Travellers Tales is currently working on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga which is believed to be releasing in 2020, although no official release date has ever been announced. A YouTube video posted to the Star Wars channel back in May gave an October 20 release date, but the video was later removed.
Originally purchased by WB Games in 2010, Turbine Inc was rebranded as WB Games Boston in 2018 and has worked exclusively on mobile games for the past few years, releasing Batman: Arkham Underworld in 2016 and Game of Thrones: Conquest in 2017. Right now, there’s no news on what WB Games Boston is currently working on outside of a new mobile game; however, the studio is hiring in multiple positions including Senior UX Designer, Advanced Artist, and Senior Producer.
Founded back in 2017, WB Games New York is a support studio for WB Games and has worked alongside a variety of WB Games studios, building competitive and social features for games such as Mortal Kombat 11, Injustice 2, and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. With that being said, the studio is currently providing the same level of support for new games that are yet to be announced including the next big games from WB Games studios like Avalanche Software, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, and WB Games Montreal.
WB Games San Diego is a brand new studio that was founded by WB Games in 2019 and is currently hiring to “bring some of the most iconic characters and stories to life in free-to-play games.” Unfortunately, that’s the extent of knowledge there is on the new studio, and it’s unclear whether it will be working on new free-to-play games for consoles in the mobile game space. Whatever is being worked on at WB Games San Diego, it’s likely in early stages of pre-production and still more than a few years from release.
Next to the reveal of Suicide Squad, one of the most anticipated announcements at DC FanDome is a first look at the next big game from WB Games Montreal. While no official announcement has been made about what the new game is, the Batman: Arkham Origins developer is widely believed to be working on a new Batman Arkham game and has been teasing so on social media for almost a year. WB Games Montreal hasn’t released anything substantial since Arkham Origins in 2013, meaning its new game has been in development for a long time and is clearly based on a DC Comic’s property given its likely being announced at a DC event. Whether it’s Batman or not (it is), this is one announcement no fan will want to miss.
The final studio under the WB Games banner is WB Games San Francisco, another developer that solely works in the mobile game space. The San Francisco studio was founded in 2013 and according to a press release at the time, was created to “specialize in developing and publishing high-quality, free-to-play, mobile, social and browser-based games.” And that’s exactly what the studio has done ever since, releasing DC Legends and Fantastic Beasts: Cases From the Wizarding World in 2016, and currently creating new content for and supporting Harry Potter: Wizards Unite which it co-developed alongside Pokemon GO developer, Niantic.
Warner Bros has released the complete 24-hour schedule for its DC FanDome event which is due to take place later this week and will offer fans a first look at Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad game, upcoming movies like Wonder Woman 1984, and much more. Not every WB Games studio is working on a DC-related property, so don’t expect to get any sort of sneak peek at Monolith’s next game or the long-rumored Harry Potter RPG. However, WB Games will still have a lot of exciting news after years of silence from some of its biggest developers, making DC FanDome an absolute must-watch event for fans of the games or just DC Comics in general.
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