WotC WotC President Cynthia Williams Resigns

Cynthia Williams, who has been president of Wizards of the Coast for the last two years, will be leaving the company at the end of the month, according to an SEC filing dated April 15th. Hasbro is already looking for somebody to step into the role.

Williams worked for Microsoft on the Gaming Ecosystem Commercial Team before joining WotC two years ago, stepping into the role that then-president Chris Cocks vacated when he was promoted to CEO of Hasbro in February 2022.

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.

According to Rascal News, WotC responded with a comment: "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."

 

[bedir than]

Not saying that you're wrong, but there is zero chance that Cocks in that NPR interview would have admitted any damage from OGLGate, regardless of whether there was any or not.

It's the same statements that the C-suite has made in legal financial statements.

 

[mamba]

As the only other person so far that understands time as a scale, do you think she orcherstrated the purchase of Beyond from Fandom, or would that also have been something begun prior to her starting? I do not know when that purchase was made. I do not know when the WotC office move to Bellvue from Renton occured, nor when the VTT "350" programmers were hired.

I had to google the timeline

Apr. 13, 2022-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that it is acquiring D&D Beyond
May 19, 2022-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of D&D Beyond

The purchase price was mentioned in the April announcement already, so that was more than just announcing the intent, they already had done their due diligence.

Given this, I expect that the decision to look into the purchase was made before she arrived, the decision to go forward with it could have been / probably was made while she was at WotC already

 

[LesserThan]

I had to google the timeline

Apr. 13, 2022-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that it is acquiring D&D Beyond
May 19, 2022-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of D&D Beyond

The purchase price was mentioned in the April announcement already, so that was more than just announcing the intent, they already had done their due diligence.

Given this, I expect that the decision to look into the purchase was made before she arrived, the decision to go forward with it could have been / probably was made while she was at WotC already

Thanks. Your Google skills are better than mine.

So currently she did nothing at WotC that we know of except make a few personal appearances, and according to Commander Herald, held WotC town hall mettings allegedly per the "whistle blower" that said, she said, "BG3 kept WotC out of the red" last year at one of those town halls.

We had several Townhall Q&As with [Human Resources], Cynthia Williams, and Chris Cocks where this was brought up. In the one with Cynthia, she responded to HR's comment of "we are killing it" by correcting her and saying we actually were not. She then called out to someone in the back of the group saying "I believe Wizards' numbers are lower than last year" to which the person she was speaking to said they were actually up. She then tried explaining [this] as Wizards not hitting the numbers needed (what was promised to stockholders) and if not for Baldur's Gate 3 the company would be in trouble.

 

[mamba]

So currently she did nothing at WotC that we know of except make a few personal appearances, and according to Commander Herald, held WotC town hall mettings allegedly per the "whistle blower" that said, she said, "BG3 kept WotC put of the red" last year at one of those town halls.

Well, I do not know what most CEOs do all day long either, so that tracks, why would we know more about her...

As to the 'WotC red' comment, not sure what she meant there, WotC would have turned a profit either way. I assume it is about D&D profits / revenue not shrinking compared to the previous year, and yes, that is true, you could see that in the annual report. The report showed barely any growth, so without BG3 it would have shrunk.

 

[LesserThan]

As to the 'WotC red' comment, not sure what she meant there

Was there a thing about landfills of Magic cards? I think that was last year. Full boxes of LotR boosters sealed but destroyed.

That had to cost money in at least production as well as lost revenue.

Feb, 2023 At Least $100,000 Worth Of Magic Cards Dumped In Landfill

 

[vonmolkew]

Impossible to say, really. It could be as simple as just getting a better offer elsewhere, or something more dramatic, but either way we’ll probably never know.

we will only know if someone from the "inside" decides to leak some info. Welcome to the world of giant corporations in America.

 

[mamba]

Was there a thing about landfills of Magic cards? I think that was last year. Full boxes of LotR boosters sealed but destroyed.

That had to cost money in at least production as well as lost revenue.

Feb, 2023 At Least $100,000 Worth Of Magic Cards Dumped In Landfill

sure, but enough for WotC to lose money, no. WotC has a 50% profit margin, it is hard to screw up so badly that a rate like that turns into a loss

 

[LesserThan]

sure, but enough for WotC to lose money, no. WotC has a 50% profit margin, it is hard to screw up so badly that a rate like that turns into a loss

Then if it was not product delays, costs, disposal at WotC; there is only 1 thing I can think of that would cause WotC to be in money trouble last year. Beyond subscription cancellations or poor sales of D&D books/brand. 25 million loss on the movie is not much more than 100k lose of cards to a company with 8 billion market cap.

None of which are tied directly to Cynthia. Only leaving hiring of VTT personell left as that cost culprit.

 

[mamba]

Then if it was not product delays, costs, disposal at WotC; there is only 1 thing I can think of that would cause WotC to be in money trouble last year. Beyond subscription cancellations or poor sales of D&D books/brand. 25 million loss on the movie is not much more than 100k lose of cards to a company with 8 billion market cap.

None of which are tied directly to Cynthia. Only keaving hiring of VTT personell left as that cost culprit.

if anything was the cause, it is the VTT to me, 250+ developers cost some real money and while there is no official timeline I am aware of, I cannot help but feel that it was intended to be further along

 

[Parmandur]

no disagreement with that, this could very well be true. That does not mean the OGL had no impact however, just that it had no impact so large that the number of players noticeably dropped.

While technically true, if it hasn't made a measurable impact...not a major ongoing business factor for Hasbro, even if in an ideal world with no mistake they would maybe be doing better.

agreed, as I said earlier, it is not because of the OGL, the timing is wrong for that and so is the rushed timeframe of two weeks notice. That makes it sound like it is personal or a great job opportunity that could not wait - I assume the former is more likely... If it has anything to do with D&D, my bet is on the VTT over anything else

Yeah, something is fishy about the VTT: incommunicado for 5 months ain't inspiring.