Warner acquires majority stake in Rocksteady Studios
UPDATE: Developer will work on other Warner IP as well as Batman; Eidos still owns over 25% of company
Warner Bros. has acquired a majority stake in Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady Studios.
Although Batman was published by Eidos, the sequel is now in the hands of Warner as it reclaimed the rights to the IP, which is part of its own DC Comics portfolio.
"Rocksteady demonstrated its professionalism and extraordinary development abilities with Batman: Arkham Asylum," said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. "This arrangement is a great strategic fit and we are very pleased to solidify our relationship with this talented development team."
Batman: Arkham Asylum has shipped over 3 million units worldwide, and won numerous awards, most recently from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
"We are proud to strengthen our association with WBIE, a world class publisher that we have enjoyed working with since we began developing Batman: Arkham Asylum," said Jamie Walker, studio director of Rocksteady Studios.
According to game designer Sefton Hill, as well as Batman, the team will also work on games based on other Warner properties.
"The Rocksteady team is very much looking forward to creating more great games based on widely recognised Warner Bros. brands like Batman," he said.
Despite Warner acquiring a majority stake, previous partner Eidos, recently acquired by Square Enix, has said that it still owns over 25 per cent of Rocksteady Studios, and will continue to represent on the developers board of directors.
"We, as founder investors, have worked closely with Rocksteady since the studio was originally formed in 2004,” said a spokesperson for Eidos. “Our collaboration with Rocksteady and Warner Bros. has produced a hugely successful game in Batman: Arkham Asylum. We retain our 25.1% stake in Rocksteady and will continue to be represented on the board of directors of the company."
Warner's recent acquisitions in the games business include Midway Games assets such as Mortal Kombat, Snowblind Studios - which is currently working on the Lord of the Rings franchise for the publisher, and TT Games, which has been steadily pumping out hit LEGO games.