Future of Warner Bros' games business on the line in Netflix-Paramount takeover war

• Warner Bros. Games has published several successful mobile titles including Game of Thrones Conquest, Mortal Kombat, Injustice 2 and Heads Up!.
• Warner Bros. Games studios include Rocksteady, NetherRealm, TT Games, Avalanche Software and WB Games Montreal.
• Turborilla CEO John Wright says Netflix acquisition offer is a battle to "control the next decade of transmedia entertainment".

Paramount Skydance has stepped up its bidding war with Netflix for Warner Bros. after making a $108.4 billion all-cash offer for the entertainment company.

The hostile bid - which comes after Netflix’s offer worth $82.7bn has already been accepted by company leadership - would see Paramount Skydance buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Meanwhile, Netflix would spin out parts of the operation, in favour of Warner's film and television studios including HBO and HBO Max, the games division, and key IP.

Any deal for Warner Bros. Discovery is still subject to regulatory approval.

On the line for gaming are studios such as Rocksteady, NetherRealm, TT Games, Avalanche Software and WB Games Montreal. It also includes famous IP such as The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and DC.

Mobile estimates

Top revenue-generating mobile games from the Warner Bros. stable include titles such as Game of Thrones Conquest, which accumulated an estimated $960 million, according to estimates from market intelligence platform AppMagic.

Meanwhile, in partnership with NetEase, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened garnered an estimated $465m across the App Store and Google Play - figures that do not include alternative Android stores.

Top titles to break $100m include Mortal Kombat, Injustice 2 and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Other notable games are Heads Up! and DC Legends: Fight Super Heroes.

More recent titles from Warner Bros. have struggled to gain as much traction. DC Worlds Collide launched earlier this year, picking up $9.6m. A new 4x strategy game, Game of Thrones: Dragonfire, is currently in soft launch.

As well as developing its own games for mobile, Warner Bros. has also licensed out its IP to major studios. Titles that have made hundreds of millions of dollars include Zynga’s Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells and Game of Thrones Slots Casino, Jam City’s Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, and Scopely’s Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem.

Console and PC studios

Warner Bros. Games owns major game studios in the console and PC space. Avalanche Studios launched Hogwarts Legacy in 2023 and has sold over 34m copies. A sequel is currently under development.

NetherRealm has continued pumping out the Mortal Kombat franchise, with MK 11 selling 15m copies, while 2023’s MK 1 has sold 6m.

London studio Rocksteady is most famous for the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series. Its last release, co-op action game Suicide Squad, was a commercial failure, leading to a $200m hit to Warner Bros. Discovery’s finances.

TT Games has long worked on the Lego franchise, with numerous IP-based releases including Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Lego Marvel's Avengers and Lego Jurassic World, to name a few.

Warner Bros.’ IP has been tapped by other developers. Earlier this year, South Korean publisher Netmarble launched Game of Thrones: Kingsroad across platforms.

Industry reaction

Industry reaction to the potential Netflix and Paramount Skydance deals has been mixed.

Turborilla CEO John Wright said Netflix was potentially the only company in the bidding war treating games as a “strategic engine, not a merch and licensing afterthought”.

“Paramount has some momentum (thanks, Skydance), but acquiring Warner Bros. Games means inheriting one of the strongest IP arsenals in the industry, Mortal Kombat, Hogwarts Legacy, DC, Rocksteady, NetherRealm,” said Wright.

“Under Netflix? That becomes a transmedia machine and bigger part of their existing gaming focus. Under Paramount? I have no actual idea.”

He added: “This isn’t just a fight over HBO or The Batman. This is a battle to control the next decade of Transmedia entertainment, where games sit right at the centre.”

Of the original Netflix offer, Game Economist Consulting’s Phillip Black said the “mythical transmedia future” that some believe the deal unlocks already exists through anime.

“Japan solved the ‘shared IP across TV, film, and games’ problem decades ago because its audience actually wants it,” he said. “Demon Slayer didn’t accidentally do half a billion at the box office; it did it because anime fans reliably follow the IP wherever it goes.

“Meanwhile, the McKinsey consultants are still workshopping pitch decks about how Fallout's $200M TV budget will drive $50k in marginal game revenue. Or, better yet, Riot's CEO justifying IP narcissism on how Arcane's Emmy was worth the $250m budget.

“I've become increasingly convinced that the transmedia thirst trap is driven by Western worship of Hollywood celebrity culture, which is why the Eastern execution of this is ignored.”

Symbol Zero CEO Rafael Brown said if the Netflix acquisition were to go through, he’d expect Warner Bros. Games to start “hemorrhaging” a few months after the merger completes.

"Netflix has been a trainwreck of inconsistent interactivity. Now Netflix will destroy WB Games,” he said.

“Netflix has never cared about games. Let's not pretend or bullshit otherwise. I'm not saying there are not Netflix employees who do. But Netflix as a company will never understand games. It is not in their DNA.”

He added: “Netflix has had six failed game strategies across the last decade. Their latest is to launch a game streaming cloud service, and have a potpourri of party games, narrative games, toddlers games, and game ports, all at budget prices. 

“Netflix had $82bn for WBD, but have had no real budgets for games. Tell me Netflix won't close WB Games as fast as they can. Netflix hates games, they just don't even know it.”

Learn about transmedia opportunities at the Pocket Gamer Connects London Transmedia Summit on January 20th, 2026. Register for your tickets here.