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."

 

[TheSword]

Well there’s nothing like 13 pages of baseless speculation and mud throwing by the uninformed to demonstrate the worst we have to offer.

I wonder how you folks would react if you quit your job and people responded this way.

Maybe she’s gone to work for a company with a less hostile fanbase.

 

[Faolyn]

Over on reddit, a bunch of people are suggesting that Hasbro made her resign so that she can be the fall guy for recent unpopular decisions, then hire a man to replace her and get a clean state. Although several other people are saying that's a dumb thought because it's too conspiratorial.

Well, mostly they're talking about how badly-written they find the headline (the article linked there is from Dicebreaker). But those that aren't are saying one of the above.

 

[FoolishFrost]

<raised eyebrow>

You are allowed you opinion. I agree that moving on and ignoring it would be the high ground.

I also distinctly remember her being "in charge" when WotC broke faith, used what I consider obviously underhanded tactics to do it, and generally earned my ire on a level that nothing is going to diminish.

The fans did NOT fire the first shot in this.

 

[Mark Craddock]

More likely it was either something personal and urgent which would suck, or a pressured resignation. Resign and get your goodies, or we fire you and you get less.

I'm leaning to she was under fire and found a different gig. Just my 2 cents. Her tenures at Amazon & Microsoft were more "successful" (read their corporate tyranny was better swallowed). I don't wish her or Cox misfortune I just wish they'd stop messing with things that were working. WotC was their source of profit. Build off of that like they did for many years.

 

[Mark Craddock]

Over on reddit, a bunch of people are suggesting that Hasbro made her resign so that she can be the fall guy for recent unpopular decisions, then hire a man to replace her and get a clean state. Although several other people are saying that's a dumb thought because it's too conspiratorial.

Well, mostly they're talking about how badly-written they find the headline (the article linked there is from Dicebreaker). But those that aren't are saying one of the above.

Sadly, I can see her gender being a factor for being scapegoated

Cox can easily claim, "Look at WotC's sales when I was in charge and Hasbro's gains before I hired her." Darkest timeline ever.

 

[Shardstone]

Hire me.

 

[Mark Craddock]

<raised eyebrow>

You are allowed you opinion. I agree that moving on and ignoring it would be the high ground.

I also distinctly remember her being "in charge" when WotC broke faith, used what I consider obviously underhanded tactics to do it, and generally earned my ire on a level that nothing is going to diminish.

The fans did NOT fire the first shot in this.

I don't think we are much of a factor. They probably fired everyone who backed the OGL and therefore we have brain drain on how to make this brand work. To me, the people in charge of Magic & DnD are like cockroaches, they are good at keeping their jobs by deflection. Probably learned it from Cox

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah this needs to stressed. She may have exited, but this won't be sudden to WotC's upper management unless she's going directly into hospital to deal with something extremely severe.

I mean, that is a fairly likely possibility, considering there is no announcement of a successor.

On a more positive note - maybe this new CEO will kill off what was clearly a project Williams was keen on - the 3D VTT. And it's even possible that's why she's going, because based on the figures she gave (250 employees working on it), it has to be the single greatest capital expenditure at WotC, and it currently has zero return, and has no possibility of making any return any time soon, given it's far from even making beta.

Whether it has anything to do with Williams resignation or not, something has gone seriously sideways with the VTT: they showed it off ar PAX East last year and people said very nice things about it. Supposedly they had wanted to have the public Beta ready to rollout in December, but we're telling people there some mild delays..and now no word for 5 months? Smells fishy.

 

[MichaelSomething]

This vacuum of leadership is the perfect opportunity for us to take action against WOTC! We could then steer D&D towards a direction we find more desirable.

Sadly, I don't have an action because I'm focusing on a My Little Pony based project.

 

[Alzrius]

Sadly, I don't have an action because I'm focusing on a My Little Pony based project.

G4 or G5?