The mergers and acquisitions are set to continue, with Paramount Skydance prepping a bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. That’s per a report from the Wall Street Journal, which cites sources claiming Paramount is seeking to get a “majority cash” bid ready with the backing of the Ellison family, though no exact price has been mentioned.
This news comes mere weeks after Paramount recently finalized a merger with Skydance. Notably, the chairman and CEO of the company, David Ellison, is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is (at the time I’m writing this) the wealthiest man in the world, surpassing Elon Musk with an estimated net worth of $393 billion.
Larry Ellison’s daughter, Megan Ellison, is the founder of Annapurna Pictures, which itself is the parent company of video game publishing label Annapurna Interactive. If this deal goes through, it will bring together two of the largest remaining film studios in the world.
The deal reportedly includes all of Warner Bros. Discovery, which would also include the company’s gaming unit. That includes studios like Avalanche and Rocksteady, as well as gaming franchises like the Batman: Arkham series and Mortal Kombat.
WB Games’ lineup was tremendously thinned earlier this year
WB Games was significantly downsized earlier this year, with leadership choosing to shutter three studios. Particularly notable was the closure of Monolith Productions, which was working on a Wonder Woman game.
Monolith had previously worked on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its 2017 sequel, Shadow of War. Both games used the Nemesis system, which allowed any random foe to remember the protagonist and rank up, evolving unpredictably as players progressed.
As an example, an orc that is burned during a fight might show up hours later with nasty scars and a fear of fire.
Multiversus developer Player First Games and support studio Warner Bros. San Diego were also closed. Outside of these closures, WB also reportedly canceled an unannounced expansion for Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy.
For upcoming games, the company has TT Games’ recently announced LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Revealed during Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2025, Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 at some point in 2026.
Avalanche is also working on a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, while Rocksteady is reportedly working on a new Batman game. These latter two projects are not expected to launch anytime soon.
Paramount already has a small gaming group, thanks to Skydance
Paramount already has a limited gaming imprint, thanks to the aforementioned merger with Skydance. In October 2021, Skydance announced that it had hired veteran director Amy Hennig known for her work leading the first three Uncharted games to helm a new gaming team called Skydance New Media.
Since then, we’ve learned that Skydance New Media is working on a Marvel game set in World War 2. Titled Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, the game stars Captain America and Black Panther, which was initially set to launch this year, but has been delayed to some point in 2026.
Skydance New Media and Amy Hennig are also working on a Star Wars project, though less is known about this game. Elsewhere, Paramount has also been involved in multiple gaming adaptations, including the Sonic the Hedgehog films and the Halo TV series.
The company is also partnering with Xbox and Activision on an upcoming Call of Duty film. This latter project does not have a director, but it appears it won’t be Hollywood veteran Steven Spielberg.
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