Warner Bros denies report that NetherRealm and TT Games are for sale

Mortal Kombat 11
(Image credit: NetherRealm Studios)

In March, AT&T announced a $43 billion deal to spin off WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery to create a "premier, standalone global entertainment company" aimed at competing with networks like Netflix and Disney+. As part of that process, it said that some parts of game publisher Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment would be sold off, although details about which parts would stay, and which would go, were not provided.

More recently, however, WBIE confirmed that two of the best-known studios in its stable, NetherRealm and TT Games, are not on the block. Following a report by the Xbox Two Podcast, which claimed to have seen documents indicating that both studios were no longer "in the scope" of Warner's future operations and were thus among the studios being dangled for potential buyers, a WBIE rep told TheGamer that it simply wasn't true.

"I can confirm NetherRealm Studios and TT Games will continue to remain a part of Warner Bros. Games, and all are included in the Warner Media Discovery merger," the rep said.

WBIE is home to roughly a dozen studios in total: Along with NetherRealm and TT Games, there's Monolith, Avalanche, Rocksteady, Playdemic, and WB Games studios in San Diego, Boston, Montreal, San Francisco, and New York.

Both NetherRealm Studios and TT Games have enjoyed considerable success in recent years: NetherRealm is well known as the developer of the Mortal Kombat and Injustice fighting games, while TT has earned acclaim for its licensed Lego games based on Star Wars, Harry Potter, Batman, and other licenses. It recently delayed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga out of its expected spring 2021 release window—a new date hasn't been set yet—while NetherRealm said earlier this month that it is now finished with Mortal Kombat 11 and working on its next project, widely assumed (or at least hoped) to be Injustice 3.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.