New Warner Bros. studio in San Francisco

The studio will be opening later this year and will specialise in the development and publishing of free-to-play, mobile, social and browser-based games.

“We are extremely pleased to add WB Games San Francisco to our global portfolio of studios and publishing capabilities,” said Martin Tremblay, president of WBIE.

“As our company has grown over the years, it has been a high priority to attract and cultivate creativity and innovation in top markets for game development around the world.”

In recent years the games and film industry has seen more and more of a crossover with many Hollywood actors lending their voice or even their body movements to popular games such as Call of Duty: World at War and The Wheelman.

Greg Ballard, WBIE’s senior vice president of digital games, will lead the studio.

“The Bay Area is the home of social and mobile gaming and WB Games San Francisco is WBIE’s opportunity to expand our game development capabilities into the epicentre of the digital world,” said Ballard.

“San Francisco is a hotbed of local talent and convenient access to major partners, and this will help us achieve our goal to bring our top entertainment and gaming brands, as well as original IP, to multiple mobile, social and emerging platforms.”

In addition to developing games, WB Games San Francisco will also oversee publishing of all other mobile games developed by WBIE. The studio will be located in the same offices as the social film website Flixster.