Warner Bros. Games is restructuring its interactive entertainment endeavors to focus on four key franchises: Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC, and Game of Thrones.
Details on the company-wide overhaul come from Variety, which says the changes involve a leadership shake-up but will not result in any layoffs or the exit of any executives. Instead, three key Warner Bros. Games names have been promoted as the gaming branch shifts its focus to its more reliable brands.
Warner Bros. Games Montreal studio head Yves Lachance now serves as senior vice president, development and will watch over games based on the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones franchises. Meanwhile, NetherRealm Studios’ Shaun Himmerick is taking on the senior vice president, development role to maintain the company’s Mortal Kombat and DC Universe efforts. Finally, Warner Bros. Games New York’s Steven Flenory has been promoted to senior vice president, central tech & services and will manage game and publishing technology, customer service, quality assurance, and user research.
“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,” Global Streaming & Games CEO J.B. Perrette said in a statement. “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.”
Time will tell how the Warner Bros. Games restructuring will affect the company after its worrying start to 2025. It began January 23 when it was revealed that boss David Haddad would be leaving the company following noteworthy failures that include the troubled launches of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus.
Shutdown plans for the latter followed only one week later, with an even more substantial blow arriving in February as Warner Bros. Games announced plans to shutter Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. San Diego alongside the cancelation of its Wonder Woman game.
Today’s restructuring does line up with a strategy Warner Bros. outlined late last year. At the time, it admitted its games business “is substantially underperforming its potential right now,” and would soon shift to lean on titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, and Game of Thrones. DC was included in its refreshed plans as well, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav specifically mentioning Batman of particular importance.
Changes at Warner Bros. Games fall in line with other smaller and larger shake-ups at the company. Just weeks ago, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would soon split into two media companies: Global Networks and Streaming & Studios. On the streaming end, audiences will soon notice that Max will revert back into HBO Max in the coming months.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
