Three current studio heads have been promoted to senior vice president as part of the restructure. Warner Bros. Games Montreal studio head Yves Lachance has been named SVP of development on Harry Potter and Game of Thrones titles. In addition, NetherRealm studio head Shaun Himmerick has been appointed SVP of development of Mortal Kombat and DC games.
All Warner Bros. Games development studios and production publishing teams will report to Lachance and Himmerick moving forward. Warner Bros. Games New York studio head Steven Flenory will step up as SVP of Central Tech & Services to oversee the company's Game and Publishing Technology, Customer Service, Quality Assurance, and User Research operations.
The trio will join the Warner Bros. Games senior leadership team and report directly to JB Perrette, CEO of Global Streaming & Games, Warner Bros Discovery.
"We are optimizing our team structure to develop long-term franchise roadmaps to delight players and fans of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat and DC games," said Perrette in a press release. "We are very fortunate to have a strong stable of development and technology talent, and Yves, Shaun and Steven are respected leaders with excellent track records in their areas of expertise. I’m looking forward to working closely with them and the team as we work to make the best games possible for our key franchises."
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Variety reports the restructure hasn't resulted in layoffs or executive exits.
Warner Bros. Games hoping core franchises can deliver success
It's a notable reshuffle for the embattled publisher, which shuttered three internal studios earlier this year including MultiVersus developer Player First Games and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions—the latter of which had reportedly been working on a Wonder Woman project.Prior to those closures, Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad announced his departure following a tough period that also saw other major titles like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperform.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the high-profile failure was reportedly plagued by mismanagement and "toxic positivity." Workers at developer Rocksteady paid the price for those leadership failures, with Warner Bros. Games cutting jobs at the studio within a year of launch.
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Warner Bros Games. parent Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in the process of splitting into two publicly traded companies: Streaming & Studios and Global Networks. Warner Bros. Games will reside within Streaming & Studios alongside other major subsidiaries such as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max.
