Monolith Merges with Warner Bros. Interactive

The folks at Monolith Productions, the producers of video games such as No One Lives Forever, Aliens vs. Predator 2 and Tron 2.0, have a new parent company today. Business trade wires report that Warner Bros. is acquiring the company, making it the first Hollywood studio to acquire a game producing entity.

Experts believe that the developer is a natural fit for Warner Bros. as it’s already working on several games for the studio, including a massively multi-player online version of The Matrix (with an estimated price tag of $15 million for the studio), which will be released in November. The Kirkland, Wash.-based Monolith, which has a staff of 130, will be housed in the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment arm, created by the studio in January to expand its presence in the video game world.

Monolith president and CEO Samantha Ryan will continue to head the company and will report to Warner Bros. Interactive president Jason Hall. According to the terms of the deal, the developer will continue to work on games for other publishers.