oday we got a chance to speak with Jason Hall, former CEO of Monolith – and newly appointed Senior Vice President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, about his new job, and what he’s planning to bring to the table.

Jason Hall:  You have summoned me, sir?

Game Informer:  Yes, we just wanted to congratulate you on your new position at Warner Brothers.

JH: Thank you!  Who’d have thought, huh?

GI: Well, not really because of everything you’ve done at Monolith.  So why would you leave a company that you created to pursue this new position?

JH: That’s a good question.  Here’s my answer.  Monolith is a very well developed company and it runs itself for the most part.  My job historically there was to find deals, make sure that the developers are fed, and set the direction for the types of games they were going to make, and make sure that everyone was making the types of games that we wanted to make.  So, you’re at the point now with Monolith where publishers are approaching them left and right with more deals than they can do and I essentially was sort of the fire extinguisher, so if things all went to pot – they break the glass, pull out “The Jason” – Jason fixes things…that sort of thing.

For the most part Monolith is ten years old.  It survived the brunt of it all and has a good reputation and if you could see some of the stuff that they are working on now – particularly for Warner Bros.- you would know that they’re on track.  It’s more of a question of was I as needed there as here.  And it was pretty clear that what I’m good at and what I do is more needed here than there.  So then the question boils down to, leaving a place that I’ve been at for 10 years, and that’s more of a personal thing.  It wasn’t easy.  But Warner Bros. is working with Monolith currently, so I spend time up there overseeing those projects.

GI:  Are there any other titles outside of The Matrix Online that Monolith is working with Warner Bros. on?

JH:  Can’t answer that question.  I don’t know if that tells you anything but I can’t answer that question.  [laughs]

GI:  But that title is still being released by Ubisoft.

JH: Yes.

GI:  What kind of things did you learn at Monolith do you think will translate well with your new position.

JH: Alright, let’s be real honest here, okay?  How does the game industry view the film studios in regards to their understanding of the game industry?

GI: [laughs]

JH:  You see?  You don’t even have to speak!  The bottom line is this.  Warner Bros. would like to become more relevant in the game industry across many levels.  They want to deal with the game industry – the various publishers and developers – in a competent way.  In a way that doesn’t make everyone feel like, “Man they’re slow.  Boy, They don’t understand anything - we’ve got to explain everything.” You know the drill.  So, they reach out deep into the game industry and they pull me out of it and they say, “here come sit on top of this and help us bring Warner Bros. up to speed on this crazy game environment that you crazy people are from.”  So, you know what my history is, so does everybody else.  So when I sit across the table from these game developers and publishers it is clear to them that there’s someone at the top that clearly understands everything down to why they need a very specific video card so they can overclock it, right? That helps Warner Bros. tremendously.

I know how game deals get done.  I know the struggles of the developer.  I know the challenges that the publishers face.  I know how the products should be marketed.  I know which demographics are going to pay attention to what.  That is important to a film studio that is trying to get more involved in the video game industry, outside of licensing.  Because we’re going to do much more than just license stuff to publishers and developers.  It’s important that they bring a guy like me in to be able to do it right.  You know film studios historically have not been successful.  You have the MGM Interactives of the world and all that other stuff.  That’s not going to happen now - not with me here.  Monolith made it through some of the toughest times of all time and I learned a lot from that experience.

The game industry should consider Warner Bros. as a fellow game company now.  Not the film studio that’s just trying to get into it.  Because you have as hardcore of a game company executive running the whole thing. 

GI:  I don’t have to mention that the majority of the licensed titles that have been released in the past, well – forever - for any video game system, generally….

JH: Suck?

GI:  Yes.   What do you think will set Warner Bros. games apart from other movie house made games.

JH:  Well there’s two things.  One of my big focuses is on the quality of the games that are coming out.  As you know Monolith tended to produce very high quality game experiences.  That’s partly due to the fact that I’m very focused on the quality bar, and I know what a crap game is.  So one of the things that will differentiate games coming from under the Warner Bros. influence are that the eyeballs that are going to be looking at them to make sure that they are not merely trying to trade on the license but the game underneath itself is fun and worth playing.  That would be me, and the people that I’m going to be bringing into the organization to make sure that’s the case.  Most film studios don’t have the capacity internally yet to make those kinds of calls.  I’m going to make sure that Warner Bros. does.  That will have a dramatic effect on the overall quality for a Warner Bros. licensed title.  Of course it’ll take time – none of this stuff is going to happen over night, but I would let me track record speak for itself with regards to the what the performance will be for the quality of these games.

GI:  Why generally are 98% of the licensed titles out there crap?

JH:  The honest truth?  They’re always made at the last minute.  You know they make a movie, and go, “Oh wow this movie is going to be great.”  They want to get a game made and the game is made under very tight and extreme circumstances.  Typically the developers actually that actually agree to that are not the highest quality developers.  You’re never going to get Valve to take on any eight or nine month development project.  It’s just not going to happen.  So what happens is you are going to have a very rushed product and a very rushed process and that’s really just trying to capitalize on the game license and not the gameplay itself – so you end up with just an average mediocre product every time – and that’s been the problem. 

The way you head that off is you start to work on the games much earlier in the process.  Surprisingly enough, you know, it takes 18 – 24 months to develop a high quality game.  I know this.  I already know stepping into this that if a deal is in front of me and they’re talking about a nine month production, I know what kind of a game that’s going to come out of that.  I won’t be diluted, and think, “Oh, it might be fantastic!”  But that’s why.  They’re rushed man.  It’s not like film studios want to put out a bad game.  They don’t.  But what are they going to do?  I’m going to show you, and I’m going to show everyone else what the difference could be.

GI:  Are all the Warner Bros. Games going to be developed in house or will some get farmed out to developers?  If they are going to be done in house are you going to be hiring on development teams or buying out development houses?

JH:  I can’t answer those questions.  I will say this, because it’s too early to discuss that stuff - Currently, for The Matrix Online Warner Bros is having it done out of house at Monolith.  It really is this Warner Bros. production.  Warner Bros. has taken this really active role in overseeing it along with the creators of The Matrix to make sure that will continue the franchise positive and evergreen way.  That has definitely been a different development process for a film studio historically, because Warner Bros. has had to invest in that – a lot of the times film studios will just license out the property and require the licensee to make all the investment.  So it gets a different level of attention.

GI:  Are there any titles that are planned or are currently in development under the Warner Bros. label that you’d care to comment about?

JH:  Nothing that hasn’t already been announced.  I think you’ll see some interesting developments through out the course of this year that will be exciting for the game industry in general.  Those are things like the Harry Potter titles and such.  Look into the future for some neat things to happen. 

GI:  Anything else you’d like to leave our readers with about the Warner Bros. Games division?

JH:  The only thing I would say is, do not simply dismiss the fact that Warner Bros. has hired a Jason Hall to come and run things as a small thing.  It’s a very big decision by the company to bring in a non-traditional executive to do big things and make big things happen.  Warner Bros. is definitely committed to accomplishing their goals in the games industry.  I can tell you as gamer to gamer, it’s a big deal, and I wouldn’t tell you otherwise if it wasn’t.

GI:  Alright, well good luck with the new position and we look forward to hearing some future announcements.

JH:  Thank you.