Warner Bros. expanded its presence in video games today by buying a majority position in Rocksteady Studios, the game studio behind last year’s spectacular surprise hit, Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The terms of the deal weren’t revealed. London-based Rocksteady will now be part of a collection of studios Warner Bros. has acquired over the years. Time Warner, owner of the film company Warner Bros., has made a number of investments after the spin-off of its Time Warner Cable division. Warner Bros. also bought the assets of Midway Games, Snowblind Studios, and TT Games in recent years.
The Batman game was a surprisingly fresh approach to a superhero game, a category that has become formulaic over the years. In the game, Batman escorts the captured Joker into his imprisonment in the Arkham Asylum insane asylum. But the Joker takes over the asylum and springs a trap on the Caped Crusader. The mayhem that follows forms the backbone of the game. The title sold more than 3 million units worldwide. It was published by Eidos Interactive, which is 20 percent owned by Time Warner. Square Enix bought out the rest of Eidos last year. Warner Bros. is publishing the sequel to Arkham Asylum itself.
Rocksteady has about 70 employees.