The head of Warner Bros Games, David Haddad, is leaving the role after 12 years. Haddad will continue as Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment president for three months as WB searches for his successor. The news was broken by Variety, which adds that a source insists there are no plans for WB to sell off its games division, something that possibly feels like it shouldn't have needed saying?
"I am so proud of everything we've accomplished together at Warner Bros Games during my time with the company," said Haddad. "It has been an absolute pleasure working on and building our iconic gaming franchises, and I will continue to be an enthusiastic supporter of this talented team's future endeavors."
The obvious thing to mention in the context of the news is last year's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which after almost nine years in development ended up as one of the biggest flops in the industry's history, and had a definite impact on WB's quarterly results. The game can hardly be put down solely to Haddad's leadership but, at the same time, WB Games clearly had faith in what Rocksteady was making and backed it to a considerable degree: The development cost is estimated at an eye-watering $200 million.
But Suicide Squad is also not the whole story. In 2023 for example WB Games had the highest-selling game of the year globally with the Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy, while series like Mortal Kombat continue to roll along very nicely. In November last year Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the publisher would be narrowing its focus to DC ("in particular Batman"), Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, and Game of Thrones.
"We're through some of the worst—and it hasn't been pretty on the gaming business—but we have four games that are really powerful," said Zaslav. "We're going to go away from trying to launch 10, 12, 15, 20 different games. I think we have a real chance now with focus to have the gaming business be steadier."
An email to staff from WB Discovery Global Streaming and Games CEO and president JB Perrette said:
"David has led WB Games to numerous accomplishments over the years, both creatively and commercially. His vision, talent and passion have helped build one of the most successful and admired gaming companies in the industry and navigated some of the biggest changes and challenges as well.
"From transitioning a physical software company into a digital-first gaming operation to organically building a successful free-to-play mobile business to developing and publishing multiple billion-dollar games and franchises—including Hogwarts Legacy, Game of Thrones Conquest, and Golf Clash—to delighting more Mortal Kombat fans than any time in the franchise's 30+ year history, the journey has been nothing short of extraordinary."
Perrette goes on to make one more interesting aside: "I fully appreciate that particularly after 12 years with the same leader and boss, change can be hard and uncomfortable (in our industry and at WBD we have certainly had our fair share)." Reading between the lines here, don't be surprised to see the kind of stuff Zaslav's talking about become an even firmer reality: Hogwarts Legacy for everyone!
Me, I'll just be thinking of the 2023 glory days, when WB execs were so drunk on the success of Hogwarts Legacy they started spitballing all sorts of daft ideas like a Superman live service game, before Suicide Squad brought everyone back down to Earth.
