Warner Bros. Games CEO David Haddad is leaving the company. The news was broken by Variety and confirmed by the publisher, which shared the following statement from WB Global Streaming CEO JB Perrette:
David has thoughtfully and purposefully chosen a time when our release schedule is lighter which will help minimize disruption to our ongoing projects and strategic plans and allow this team to smoothly prepare for its next record-breaking title.
Haddad himself also provided a statement on his departure from the company after nearly ten years in the role and over twenty in total at WB Games:
I am so proud of everything we’ve accomplished together at Warner Bros. Games during my time with the company. 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. I look forward to working on the next chapter of my career and will always be grateful for my time with Warner Bros. Games.
Speculation is that the recent failures of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus might have played a role. The former game by Rocksteady was a massive disappointment that caused a major financial drop in revenue for the publisher after a big investment. The latter certainly cost a lot less to make, but it still ultimately underperformed despite the initial success seen in the Open Beta a couple of years ago.
On the other hand, it’s also worth remembering that Warner Bros. Games smashed sales records just a couple of years ago with Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy, which was the best-selling game of 2023 in a year filled with triple-A releases. A sequel is already in production and might have live service elements; in the meantime, rumors suggest a sort of definitive edition of Hogwarts Legacy is being made with the help of Rocksteady.
