Player First Games, a Westchester-based game developer, has been acquired by Warner Bros. Games. Terms of the deal, which was announced earlier this month, were not disclosed.
Player First Games is the developer of MultiVersus, a platform fighter game that was commercially launched in May after launching in beta in 2022. The game makers worked closely with Burbank-based Warner Bros. Discovery on the game, which features characters from popular Warner Bros. franchises like Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes and DC Comics.
“The bright and creative team at Player First Games adds to our extensive development capabilities,” David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Games, said in a statement.
It’s been a brutal year for the video game industry.
Of the roughly 700 gaming companies in California, 200 are located in the Los Angeles area, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
The acquisition announcement by Payer First Games and Warner Bros. Games is a departure from the smattering of layoffs and shuttering announcements seen from the video game industry over the last six months. Xbox Game Studios announced in May it would shut down three studios and move another one. In February, Sony and Playstation laid off 900 employees (around 8% of Playstation employees) and closed its London studio. Publisher Electronic Arts – home to FIFA and The Sims – shuttered a studio in Seattle.
In January, 1,900 employees from Xbox and Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard were laid off. Sawtelle-based Riot Games laid off 11% of its workforce and decided to sunset its publishing label Riot Forge.
Neither Player First Games nor Warner Bros. announced any as a result of the acquisition. Player First Games cofounders Tony Huynh, chief executive of the studio, and Chris White, head of technology, will continue to lead the game development firm while working under Warner Bros. Games.
“We feel that this will be great for MultiVersus overall,” Huynh said in a statement. “We are working to make the MultiVersus game experience the best it can be and having our development team integrated with the publisher is optimum for the players.”
