{Geeknative] President of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro Gaming resigns

[Kyonshi]

The article is the usual speculative rubbish that manages to buff up a
resignation notice into something that can fill an whole article, but
well, here it is:

Source:
https://www.geeknative.com/165877/near-silence-so-far-from-hasbro-as-cynthia-williams-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-boss-quits/


Near silence (so far) from Hasbro as Cynthia Williams, D&D and Magic the
Gathering boss, quits

April 17, 2024 by Andrew Girdwood

Hasbro has not said much about Cynthia Williams resigning as President
of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro Gaming

News that D&D would need a new boss ‘broke’, if that’s the right word,
through a little note in a SEC filing.

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of
Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of
Certain Officers. On April 15, 2024, Cynthia Williams, President of
Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro Gaming, informed the Company of her
resignation from the Company effective April 26, 2024. The Company is
conducting a process to identify her successor, looking at both internal
and external candidates.

Williams, who worked at Amazon and then Microsoft Gaming before Hasbro,
has had a wild time with highs and lows for the Hasbro brand during her
tenure. One of the most significant shifts has been the expansion of
Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond initiative. These crossovers
with beloved franchises like Lord of the Rings have proven massively
successful, with MTG Lord of the Rings hailed as the company’s
best-selling set.

The digital domain has also delivered victories. In 2023, Baldur’s Gate
3, the most ambitious Dungeons & Dragons video game yet, snagged Game of
the Year honors and sold 10 million copies. Additionally, Monopoly Go
launched last year, quickly climbing to the top of mobile game download
charts.

However, these years have been challenging. Magic: The Gathering players
were outraged in 2022 by the 30th Anniversary Edition, a $999
commemorative set of non-tournament-legal cards.

Yet, this controversy was dwarfed by Wizards’ early 2023 attempt to
modify the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License (OGL). The tabletop RPG
community reacted with such intensity that Wizards ultimately reversed
course entirely. This upheaval proved extremely beneficial for
Pathfinder, Kobold Press, and even Critical Role, the latter of which
may now become a key D&D competitor.

Williams’ presidency has been a rollercoaster marked by impressive
triumphs and serious missteps.

Wizards of the Coast has not said much, but they did tell BoardGameWire;

We’re excited for Cynthia to take the next step in her career and
grateful for the contributions she has made in her more than two years
at Wizards and Hasbro. We wish her the absolute best in her next endeavor.

We have started the search for our next President of Wizards of the
Coast and hope to have a successor in place soon.

Cynthia William’s predecessor, Chris Cocks, will play an essential role
in selecting her replacement. Cocks graduated from the head of Wizards
of the Coast to take the Hasbro top job.

As Hasbro has said they’ll consider an internal replacement, the new D&D
and Magic: The Gathering boss may be a name we’re already familiar with..

[Kyonshi]

Post by Kyonshi
The article is the usual speculative rubbish that manages to buff up a
resignation notice into something that can fill an whole article, but
https://www.geeknative.com/165877/near-silence-so-far-from-hasbro-as-cynthia-williams-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-boss-quits/

ah, someone on dice.camp did the math: her departure date is one day
before Hasbro's quarterly earnings' call
https://dice.camp/@btravern/112292697751113100

also official from Hasbro:
https://investor.hasbro.com/node/36526/html

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Kyonshi

Post by Kyonshi
The article is the usual speculative rubbish that manages to buff up a
resignation notice into something that can fill an whole article, but
https://www.geeknative.com/165877/near-silence-so-far-from-hasbro-as-cynthia-williams-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-boss-quits/

ah, someone on dice.camp did the math: her departure date is one day
before Hasbro's quarterly earnings' call
https://investor.hasbro.com/node/36526/html

I'm sure there will be a lot of 'good riddance' and 'Hasbro sucks'
commentary, but honestly, I don't think any of that is deserved.

That Hasbro and D&D are a poor match, I'll agree with completely. I've
commented on this before, on how the needs of Hasbro - a company built
around the idea of mass-producing cheap, disposable toys - has a
philosophy that runs almost counter to what tabletop gaming is about:
artisnally designed games that require a lot of time and effort to
enjoy and aren't really something that will ever capture the attention
of the general audience (at least not for very long). D&D (and
tabletop in general) is a very niche hobby.

But on the other hand, it's very likely that without the investment of
Hasbro, D&D wouldn't exist anymore, except as 'that old game' from the
80s and 90s. Oh, sure, there might be some small publishing firm still
cranking out a few books every decade, but it would probably be
running on extremely narrow margins. Its doubtful that we'd see D&D
carried in stores like Walmart or Target! Hasbro's investment has
helped keep the game in the public's eye far longer than a game of its
type really has any fair reason to be (and, with it, all other
tabletop games). So I can hardly fault them for trying to recoup some
of their money.

In a more perfect world, D&D could stand on its own merits, existing
as a niche game that is just popular enough to support not only its
creators but also a thriving player-base. But we don't live in that
world, so we need companies like Hasbro, even if it does mean they
'dumb down' the game, oversaturate the market, do stupid things like
try to reverse the OGL, and sell D&D-branded sneakers.

And between corporate and player you have people like Cynthia
Williams, trying to walk that delicate line. Now, I'm no fan of
C-levels in general, and there's a lot that happened during Mrs.
Williams tenure that I don't agree with, but I'm not really sure
/anybody/ could have done any better... and I'm absolutely sure a lot
of people could have done much worse.

[Zaghadka]

Post by Kyonshi

Post by Kyonshi
The article is the usual speculative rubbish that manages to buff up a
resignation notice into something that can fill an whole article, but
https://www.geeknative.com/165877/near-silence-so-far-from-hasbro-as-cynthia-williams-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-boss-quits/

ah, someone on dice.camp did the math: her departure date is one day
before Hasbro's quarterly earnings' call
https://investor.hasbro.com/node/36526/html

This kind of resignation is typical of the board/CEO telling a high-level
executive to do something truly terrible from a management and/or
business perspective, usually to squeeze blood from a stone or change to
a risky "disruptive" business plan, and that executive not wanting to
burn things to the ground on her watch. It's actually the only
responsible thing an executive can do in that situtaion.

She'll let someone else do it, if they can find that sort, or maybe her
resignation will be a wakeup call and they won't ask her successor to do
whatever she disagreed with.

Should have done it before the OGL nonsense though. She's already got
taint.

Utter speculation of course.