Warner Bros. Games, home of the studios behind Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, the Batman Arkham games, and the LEGO games, now answers to the same games boss as SpongeBob and Star Trek. Skydance, the company formed when Paramount closed its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, has named Tony Driscoll its president of games and experiences, and the Warner Bros. games business moves into his portfolio. Nothing about the games you are playing or waiting on has changed yet.
Who is in the new group
Driscoll already ran Paramount Games Studio, which Paramount launched in June by combining its games efforts with Skydance’s studios, including Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media. Per The Hollywood Reporter, his new title adds Warner Bros. Games to that mix, along with the theme park, studio tour, and retail side Skydance calls experiences.
Variety, which obtained the staff memo from Skydance president Andy Gordon, reports that the plan combines Paramount Games Studio with Warner Bros. Games’ internal developers. That covers Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat), Rocksteady Studios (Batman Arkham), TT Games (LEGO games), and the WB Games teams in Montreal and Boston. On the franchise side, Variety lists Warner Bros. names like Harry Potter, DC, Mortal Kombat, and Game of Thrones next to Paramount’s Star Trek, SpongeBob SquarePants, Mission: Impossible, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Driscoll will also keep leading corporate strategy and development, according to Variety and Deadline. In his own note to staff, he described the group as one that immerses “players in action, adventure, combat, competition and creativity, from Batman to SpongeBob.” His stated first priority is meeting the team “from LA to London, Montreal to Tokyo, and beyond.”
What Bobby Kotick’s role is
Separately, Skydance announced its board on October 6. Bobby Kotick, the former longtime CEO of Activision, joins as an independent director alongside Emerson Collective founder Laurene Powell Jobs and Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. The rest of the board carries over from Paramount, with David Ellison as chairman.
That is a board seat, not a job running games. Skydance’s release points to Kotick’s experience with franchise businesses and public companies, but it gives him no role in the games group, and none of the reporting on Gordon’s memo puts him in Driscoll’s chain. A board weighs in on big company decisions rather than day-to-day studio work.
What is still unknown
Plenty. Skydance has not announced new games, cancellations, or changes to any studio’s current projects. Warner Bros. Games’ own site had no statement on the reorganization when we checked, and its latest news is still the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight launch. Gordon’s memo, as quoted by THR and Variety, frames games as a growth area and says the company wants “to meet consumers where they watch, play, and engage,” but it stops short of naming specific plans.
For players, the existing games stay where they are. Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 are still sold on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC, and Paramount Games Studio has said it builds for every platform and every kind of player.
FAQ
Who runs Warner Bros. Games now?
Tony Driscoll, Skydance’s new president of games and experiences, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He previously led Paramount Games Studio and will also keep leading corporate strategy and development.
Which studios are part of Skydance’s games group?
Variety reports the group combines Paramount Games Studio, including Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media, with Avalanche Software, NetherRealm Studios, Rocksteady Studios, TT Games, and the WB Games teams in Montreal and Boston.
Does this change Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, or upcoming games?
Not so far. Skydance has not announced new games, cancellations, or changes to any studio’s projects, and the memos quoted by THR and Variety do not name specific game plans.
This is a big reshuffle on paper, and the first real signal will be what Driscoll’s group actually announces next. Until a studio or Skydance says otherwise, treat current release plans as unchanged.