WB Discovery vil undgå insolvens ved at leje spillicenser ud

Lige nu har Warner Bros. Discovery det ikke helt så nemt. Efter de to giganter smeltede sammen har de kæmpet med faldende aktiepriser, og nu forsøger de at komme rundt om det ved blandt andet at begynde at leje licenser til deres mest kendte franchises ud. Batman, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, alt er tilsyneladende på bordet, og det gælder både spil, film og serier.

Som IGN skriver afslørede CEO David Zaslav dette initiativ under virksomhedens seneste Q2-finansmøde. Her noterede de desuden et profitfald på 41% som hovedsageligt skyldes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, men åbenbart vil de altså begynde at "leje" disse franchises ud til at andre interesserede parter, for at sikre flere penge i fremtiden:

"One of the strategic advantages of owning all our IP is, as the world has changed, it used to be you launch a movie or you launch a TV series, then you do a game. But one of the reasons that Hogwarts Legacy was so successful and the #1 game last year, you went to Hogwarts Legacy and you entered the game and you were able to become part of that world. That ultimately I think is a big piece of where this industry is going. That we'll create a movie, whether it's Batman or Superman or Harry Potter, and maybe there'll be a TV show, but the ability to go in that world and have that experience of spending time with all the characters is something that we still own. We have 11 studios here, and we have a lot of IP. And there's also a lot of interest among others in coming to take advantage of some of that IP for gaming, which we're looking at. Because as JB said, we need to get bigger, and the IP that we own and the value that it has in the gaming space is something we're looking to take advantage of."

Naturligvis er der endnu ingen faste aftaler på bordet endnu, og det vides endnu ikke hvilke andre udgivere der lige nu går efter at sikre rettighederne til et Batman- eller et Game of Thrones-spil.

Men alt lader til at være oppe og vende lige nu.