SEPT. 10, 2007 • Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment expanded its video game publishing organization into Europe, including direct distribution, sales, and marketing of its internally-developed titles from its U.S.-based WB Games, as well as third-party game titles. The first games scheduled to be released through the new division include Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal for the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2 and Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck for the Nintendo DS.
Impact: Warner Bros. investment in the video game business has an extremely cyclical history going back to the 1970s. Historically, the company tends to invest in developing games based on its own IP, only to pull back after a time and follow a strategy of licensing IP to third-party publishers until they decide to take a more active role in the business. We are now at the active role point of the cycle. Considering that Warner Bros is part of one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, everyone needs to pay attention.
