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."

 

[SteveC]

This thread has taken a strange turn. Has it been so long since the OGL crisis that we've forgotten the effects it had on anyone who used it? All of the movement we've seen away from OGL 5E wasn't something that was planned. It had a tremendous cost, physically and emotionally.

Small businesses that used the OGL to make products were worried about going out of business. I know some of the people who own or work for them. It was an intensely stressful time that forced many of them to change course or halt products. WotC did that. I just can't even imagine where this "what was the harm?" rhetoric is coming from.

 

[Burnside]

The number of customers that ever cared about the OGL is small. The number that still care is a smaller. The number of people that care about changing the OGL for older versions is smaller yet. The number of people who would change their mind? A rounding error.

I just don't see the offended minority changing their minds. Should HASBRO have done it in the first place? No. Did some suits not understand what the issue was? Sure, which explains the slow recognition of the gravity of the problem.

Based on other responses, it still wouldn't matter, once a mistake is made there can be no forgiveness. So at this point they may well not bring attention to it.

OGLGate was actually a huge deal and became a PR nightmare for WotC; in January 2023 it was so bad that they had to go completely silent for weeks on all media channels when they should have been promoting the Dragonlance book, Keys from the Golden Vault, and the movie. If the outcry wasn't so overwhelming and the story didn't go mainstream, they'd never have put the 5E SRD in Creative Commons and Cocks would never have done that apology tour with all the influencers. The idea that the number of people who cared about that was "small" is just not correct.

Now, putting the older editions into Creative Commons as promised I do agree is probably not going to happen for the reason you state: not enough people care about that particular item. WotC will only do it in response to sufficient grass roots outrage about how they went back on their commitment to do it, and I think we're unlikely to see such a groundswell UNLESS it comes in tandem with outrage about some even more egregious thing they do down the line. Otherwise, if they feel they can get away with letting that story die, they will.

 

[LesserThan]

I meant we have no idea what her stance on it was or what she did for / against that change

Is this video lying as it finds quotes from Twitter?

1 minute claims Williams said, "I fully support OGL 1.1"

 

[mamba]

Is this video lying as it finds quotes from Twitter?

1 minute claims Williams said, "I fully support OGL 1.1"

no, but that is not her as a private person either, that is the official policy at the time.

She is not going to say something like ‘I am against it, but Cox really wants me to get this done’ or ‘I have no opinion, but the D&D team thinks it is a good idea and I trust them’

We won’t know whose idea it was or what everyone’s take was for a long time, if ever, so I won’t pretend like it was her causing this

 

[Staffan]

Her lack of a stance is a stance in itself. She should have, at the bare minimum, addressed it publicly, and stated her stance on it. On the other hand, doing so would have likely pissed off Hasbro (despite WotC still being its own company regardless of the partnership with Hasbro).

The who with the what now? Wizards of the Coast is not a partner of Hasbro's. Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast, lock, stock, and barrel. Have done since 1999.

 

[LesserThan]

no, but that is not her as a private person either, that is the official policy at the time.

No, she gets 1 stance. If she disagreed with OGL 1.1 "personally", then ethically she should not have said she agreed with it and should have resigned while it was going on.

Dont give me that nonsense where money is all that matters when she had millions in the bank.

She personally agreed with OGL 1.1, IF she in fact did make that statement. You do not get to have your cake and eat it too.

 

[dbolack]

Post wasn't helpful, even if accurate.

 

[Oofta]

Which is your bias.

If you think that WotC should be absolved of responsibility because of some sentiment that "nothing they do will ever be good enough anyway, so why bother?" that's your prerogative, but as someone who's one of the "offended minority" which you're (mis)characterizing, I'm telling you that you're wrong. Do with that what you will.

A minority of people (not talking companies here) still care, they are still offended. So offended minority is just my best description of the group, if there's a better description let me know. But nobody I actually interact with in person cares anymore, for that matter only a few even knew about it.

DndBeyond is starting to open up to 3PP, which could greatly improve marketing opportunities for at least some companies that were producing product related to D&D before last year. I have no idea what the people running those companies think, and was not addressing their concerns. I mean, I just got Tome of Beasts from Kobold Press because it's not on DDB. I would assume that for the people at KP that it's enough of an olive branch. Paizo of course made a big deal out of it but they weren't directly supporting D&D anyway and I'm not surprised that they took advantage of the issue to differentiate their product a bit and I don't blame them.

Somebody in HASBRO management made a stupid call that was never implemented, but if it affects the business decisions of any 3PP going forward that's their call. I don't trust WOTC any less now because I never trusted them. I'm not being dismissive, I just don't see the point of holding a grudge.

 

[Scribe]

I just can't even imagine where this "what was the harm?" rhetoric is coming from.

Same 3 or 4 people who denied anything happened the whole time.

 

[mamba]

No, she gets 1 stance. If she disagreed with OGL 1.1 "personally", then ethically she should not have said she agreed with it and should have resigned while it was going on.

I hope you are that principled, that clearly would make you a small minority

I am not expecting that she was, she stuck by the party line and that is it, at least until you have something better as evidence.

Even if she supported it, that does not mean it was her idea. I am more interested in the latter than the former