WotC WotC President Cynthia Williams Resigns

Leaves the company after two years of leadership.

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 16.34.40.png

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."
 
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Morrus

Morrus is the owner of EN World and EN Publishing, creator of the ENnies, creator of the What's OLD is NEW (WOIN), Simply6, and Awfully Cheerful Engine game systems, publisher of Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, and co-host of the weekly Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast. He has been a game publisher and RPG community administrator for over 20 years, and has been reporting on TTRPG and D&D news for over two decades. He is also on the socials.
mamba

mamba

Legend
FrogReaver said:
Someone mentioned 250+ Beyond developers.

That costs a ton and if that cost was directly booked against d&d earnings it wouldn’t be hard for that to put them in the red. It might not be the official way they do financial statements due to organization structure but I’d bet internally they have that view.
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VTT, not Beyond… It’s probably not enough to put D&D in the red however (a rough guess is that D&D makes twice that, without the BG3 windfall), and definitely not enough to do so for WotC.

In any case it is a big enough chunk of money to pay attention to it, unlike say the 2024 books which pale in comparison…
 

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pawsplay

pawsplay

Hero
kronovan said:
I for one are not sad Willams is gone. Instead of speculating on why she left with such short notice? Why there's no successor in sight? Is this normal CEO departure practice? Is the sky about to fall in on WotC? Etc. I prefer to instead ponder this "Williams worked for Microsoft on the Gaming Ecosystem Commercial Team". I mean what the hell is that? To me it reads like an eco preserve where they train gifted cetaceans and primates to play video games, with the hope they'll become commercially viable members of an eSports team.

I know someone here more versed in the workings of corporate gaming will come along and enlighten me. But I prefer to remain ignorant, if not silly, and to ponder that specific element of this news story. If only because somehow, some day, at some time, I just know it'll aid me in my homebrewing efforts. Forgive me mods, but I don't see my comments here as a derail, but as a sidetrack that runs straight throught some strange machination of corporate America. 🥴
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Ecosystem, in the corporate gaming world, means the process of getting people addicted to your games. They are in the ecosystem because they keep coming back for nibbles and giving you money. The goal is a self-sustaining, rewards-based system that keeps them from "escaping" the ecosystem. It's like marketing, except more tailored and predatory.
 

FrogReaver

FrogReaver

As long as i get to be the frog
mamba said:
VTT, not Beyond… It’s probably not enough to put D&D in the red however (a rough guess is that D&D makes twice that, without the BG3 windfall), and definitely not enough to do so for WotC.

In any case it is a big enough chunk of money to pay attention to it, unlike say the 2024 books which pale in comparison…
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Yea, rough estimate for 250 programmers for a year might be something like 100,000 dollars * 250 = 25 million. Might be a little higher than that or lower depending on specifics. But your right, probably not enough put d&d in red on its own.
 

SlyFlourish

SlyFlourish

SlyFlourish.com
Supporter
Mark Craddock said:
My concern is how they will handle the logistics of all of those preorders they are going after with DnD Beyond. Who is handling the shipping once they release? I know that there have been some rough spots with their M:tG Secret Lairs. Its hard enough competing with Amazon as a local game store but when you combine that with free and early access to the DnD Beyond material its going to cut into our sales.

And after dealing with 2 years of some major QC issues and the firing of 2 art directors and a graphic designer I wonder who is left for those inevitable changes at the 11th hour. Maybe it's been sent to the printers?

As a fan and as a merchant whose livelihood has strong ties to Hasbor/WotC I don't have a lot faith left in them especially after the December cuts and what seemed like an indication similar staff cuts could come this year to prop up the stocks again.


Maybe Cynthia is fleeing a dumpster fire? Maybe she's a scapegoat? Maybe she has real issues in her life more important than her career? Either way the last few years have been rough for their fans and partners.
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What do you think is going to happen? What do you think the likelihood is of that happening?

I’m no fan of WOTC but I expect them to ship the core books on time and I expect the same level of physical quality I’ve seen from their recent books.

I had problems with the content of Spelljammer and Planescape but the physical quality and art was fantastic.
 




Oofta

Oofta

Legend
SlyFlourish said:
So buy it somewhere else?
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What??? Actually go over to my local brick and mortar game store and purchase it in person? Okay boomer. :p

Personally I'll order the books on DDB and buy local, or maybe vice versa because I'll buy the physical book and see if I like it enough to use with my gaming group. Not because I think there's any reason to believe there will be many issues but because I like to support local businesses when I can.
 

mamba

mamba

Legend
SlyFlourish said:
So buy it somewhere else?
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sure, that was not so much my problem without a solution as me pointing out what the concern in the post you replied to might be, and that past experience shows they do not ship everything on time, even with what are probably fewer preorders than for the new PHB

Mark Craddock said:
My concern is how they will handle the logistics of all of those preorders they are going after with DnD Beyond.
Click to expand...
SlyFlourish said:
I’m no fan of WOTC but I expect them to ship the core books on time
Click to expand...
 

SlyFlourish

SlyFlourish

SlyFlourish.com
Supporter
Oofta said:
What??? Actually go over to my local brick and mortar game store and purchase it in person? Okay boomer. :p

Personally I'll order the books on DDB and buy local, or maybe vice versa because I'll buy the physical book and see if I like it enough to use with my gaming group. Not because I think there's any reason to believe there will be many issues but because I like to support local businesses when I can.
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You want to talk about OK boomer, I’ll wait until I get my complementary copy as a Legacy D&D Beyond writer and see if its worth buying the first print or waiting until they print it with all the errata.

As much as I expect them to be able to publish solid, beautiful books on time. I also expect it will be out of date on day 1 with some DDB hot fixes.
 

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