Warner Bros. Games has just announced it will reshuffle its organization around the Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC franchises.
This news comes a month after Warner Bros.’ first quarter financial report revealed the publisher’s games revenue “decreased 48% ex-FX,” or excluding foreign exchange. The company also pinned its 66% dip in gaming expenses compared to the same quarter last year on “impairment related to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and lower games revenue in the current quarter.”
Earlier this year, Warner Bros. canceled its Wonder Woman game and closed Shadow of Mordor studio Monolith after reportedly losing $200 million on Suicide Squad, and then another $100 million on the disappointing MultiVersus and Quidditch Champions.
In a press release, Warner Bros. says that Warner Bros. Games Montréal studio head Yves Lachance will now serve as senior vice president of development and tend to teams involved in Harry Potter and Game of Thrones projects.
Mortal Kombat will continue to remain under the purview of NetherRealm studio head Shaun Himmerick, who has also been promoted to senior vice president of development, in which capacity he will also look after DC games.
“All Warner Bros. Games development studios and production publishing teams will report to Lachance and Himmerick aligned to the franchises for which they are creating games,” Warner Bros. says in its press release. It does not share if layoffs are part of its new “franchise focused structure”; GamesRadar+ has reached out for comment.
“Our company is home to some of the biggest franchises in the world, and 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,” says Warner Bros. CEO of global streaming and games JB Perrette. “We are very fortunate to have a strong stable of development and technology talent.”
