Skydance has confirmed that Paramount and Warner Bros.’ games and experiences divisions will be merged into a single team, as part of a wider leadership shake-up at the newly combined company.
The news was first reported by Variety, the US entertainment trade publication, which obtained an internal email sent to staff on October 6th. Skydance is the company formed through Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, and it now holds film, TV and gaming properties from both sides of that deal.
The merged team will oversee projects based on Paramount franchises such as Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Godfather. On the Warner Bros. side, it picks up Harry Potter, the DC Universe, Mortal Kombat, The Matrix, Rick and Morty and Game of Thrones.
In practice, the recently formed Paramount Games Studio will be combined with Warner Bros. Games’ internal developers. These include Avalanche Software (the studio behind Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm Studios, Rocksteady Studios, TT Games and the WB Games teams in Montreal and Boston.
Who will lead Skydance’s games business?
According to Variety, the email from [FIRST NAME] Gordon also named leaders for several divisions outside the company’s film and TV operations. The appointments cover games, consumer products, HR and global operations:
- Tony Driscoll, President of Games and Experiences, who will also lead corporate strategy and development
- Josh Silverman, President of Global Products and Publishing
- Jim Sterner, who will remain Chief People Officer and continue to lead HR operations
- Jose Turkienicz, who will stay on as President of Global Operations, covering real estate, procurement and studio operations
- Jeff Silberman, who becomes Gordon’s Chief of Staff while continuing as Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy
Driscoll already knows the Paramount side of the business well. He was named head of Paramount’s newly launched video game studio in June, a unit that itself combined Paramount and Skydance’s gaming assets. Variety’s report did not say how the merged team will be structured below him, or whether the merger will affect any of the studios involved.
“We’re investing in our future growth engines alongside our core ambitions in TV, Film and direct-to-consumer: Games, Experiences, Consumer Products, and Publishing,” Gordon wrote. “These are core pillars of our strategy to build engagement and fandom in both the physical and digital worlds. We want to meet consumers where they watch, play, and engage.”
Driscoll also sent his own memo, which set out early plans for the team. “We immerse our guests in theme parks, resorts, restaurants, retail, studio tours and more. We immerse our players in action, adventure, combat, competition and creativity, from ‘Batman’ to ‘SpongeBob,’” he wrote. He added that his first priority in the coming weeks, whether on Zoom or in person, is “meeting as many of you as I can from LA to London, Montreal to Tokyo, and beyond.”
