With TT Games (Lego games), Monolith, Snowblind Studios and a majority stake in Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady, Warner Bros. is already pretty stacked in the development department. Last year, the media giant also picked up most of the assets of Midway Games, including the Mortal Kombat franchise. Today, Warner Bros. took another step to bolster its studio roster (especially with regards to online gaming) by acquiring Boston area developer Turbine, best known for Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The financial terms were not disclosed.
It's worth noting that Warner Bros. used to hold all the rights to The Lord of the Rings games, but Turbine had picked up the literary MMO rights. Now, with this acquisition, all rights for the LOTR franchise "will be unified under the Warner Bros. shield," as the company put it.
“Turbine is a leader in online entertainment and a strong strategic fit for Warner Bros. as we continue to broaden our games portfolio and development capabilities,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “Turbine’s renowned online game development and publishing expertise will help us develop additional online product offerings, while also providing us with new and innovative ways to market and communicate with our consumers.”
“Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology, groundbreaking graphics and its unique ability to create and operate massive and persistent online worlds which greatly enhance players’ social gaming experiences,” added Martin Tremblay, president, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online have both been an enormous success for Turbine and we look forward to working with their talented development team to continue creating award-winning online games.”
“We have been looking to expand access to our online worlds to more players and more markets,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO, Turbine, Inc. “This acquisition is very exciting because it allows us to expand globally while continuing to focus on creating spectacular online games that our loyal fans and players have come to expect.”
In addition to simply boosting Warner's development capabilities, the Turbine acquisition gains Warner access to a "proprietary digital publishing platform that enables dynamic direct-to-consumer relationships, robust online merchandising opportunities and vibrant e-commerce functionality for online games." Furthermore, Turbine's own social networking platform can be integrated with other popular social networking platforms, and Warner can leverage this technology outside of the games business with other home entertainment too.
