All Change At WotC: New President Arrives From Microsoft As Greg Leeds Resigns

WotC's President, Greg Leeds, has resigned, to be replaced by Microsoft's Chris Cocks. The changeover takes place on June 6th, with Leeds staying on to facilitate a smooth transfer. Greg Leeds has been President of WotC for 8 years, since 2008. Chris Cock's most recent position was Vice President of OEM Technical Sales at Microsoft. The full press release is below.

Chris Cocks
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[h=4]Press Release[/h]
PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hasbro, Inc. today announced that Greg Leeds has resigned as President of Wizards of the Coast, and will be replaced by Chris Cocks who joins the company from Microsoft. Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, offers games and entertainment under world-renowned brands such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUEL MASTERS. Leeds has served as the President of Wizards of the Coast since 2008, and started at Hasbro in 2001. He will stay on to ensure a smooth transition to Cocks, who will officially join the team in Seattle on June 6.

“We are incredibly thankful to Greg for the tremendous contributions he has made to Hasbro, especially during his time leading Wizards of the Coast,” said John Frascotti, President, Hasbro Brands. “Today, thanks to Greg’s commitment and passion, Wizards of the Coast’s brands are stronger than ever. Though MAGIC: THE GATHERING was introduced more than 20 years ago, it is more relevant and popular today than it’s ever been, with a record number of people around the world playing the game and participating in MAGIC organized play events.”

Leeds will be replaced by Chris Cocks, who most recently served as Vice President, OEM Technical Sales at Microsoft Corporation, where he led a global sales and technical engagement team. Prior to his eight-year tenure with Microsoft, Chris served as Vice President of Educational Games at LeapFrog, where he led a cross-discipline team to drive hardware planning, software design and development, marketing and channel management. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble and served in product management and marketing leadership positions in Xbox and MSN, including work on hit franchises like Halo and Fable, prior to joining Leapfrog. Cocks is an avid player and fan of Wizards of the Coast brands, including MAGIC: THE GATHERING and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

“We’re very excited to welcome Chris to the Wizards of the Coast family,” said Frascotti. “As an avid fan and player with extensive digital experience, I’m confident Chris is the right person to help us build on the tremendous momentum around our brands and take the franchise to the next level by delivering exciting new experiences to our growing and passionate fan base around the world."

See the list of ex-WotC employees here.

 

[Anthony Terry]

For what its worth the children's book he wrote linked here is very good. Its imaginative and leads you to believe this guy is 100% a fantasy geek however that by no stretch of the imagination means hes a D&D guy. Still totally a step in the right direction and even if not directly involved in D&D just having an avid reader at the top of the food chain actually makes me more comfortable that WOTC digital offerings can co-exsist with continued improved standard of books / materials.

However not to stoke something that died along time ago but i couldn't care if they replaced him with a dead donkey. To see the back of the guy responsible for the monstrosity that was 4th edition and all of its associated delivery failures is nothing but a cause for celebration.

 

[Anthony Terry]

Part of the problem is that Magic was designed as a table-top game in 90's and Hearthstone was designed to be an internet game in 2014. There are many components and game mechanics to Magic the Gathering that make it hard to design for as far as User Experience. Even if you get a near perfect translation of the game, it's still designed to take about 30 minutes to an hour to play. Meanwhile, Hearthstone is set up for a simpler set of "fire and forget" mechanics well-suited for asynchronous interaction. Its matches last about 15 minutes, and it takes less investment to assemble a deck and learn the game. Basically, Hearthstone is designed well to be an online pick-up card-game, and therefore hard to compete with if you're copying a game that doesn't have the exact same goals and design considerations.

What WotC should be happy about is that there's probably minimal incentive for Blizzard to expand into physical card games since that has a lower ROI and great risks than just maintaining Hearthstone as an online game. Magic can continue thriving as what it has pretty much always been. If WotC wants to a slice of the digital pie, they should create a new game and perhaps a new IP specifically conceived for that purpose. Unfortunately, creating new things is not something that Hasbro and WotC do much anymore.

Great post that really well explains something I tried to explain to a friend of mine the other day (We have both played a little magic and allot of yugi-oh since were young). Hearthstone was from creation designed with the idea of soul idea of online play and by large is much simpler and fast paced than any traditional card game. To have any chance of digital success hasbo would have to create either a whole new game or a kind of magic the gathering lite. Neither of which would have guaranteed chance of catching with exsisting magic the gathering players and nor do hasbo have the huge online gaming presence of blizzard with which to push the game.

With all that said even if they actually gave me a decent online portal and gave playing cards serial numbers that unlocked the cards online I would spend north of 30-40 quid on a gathering game.

 

[Reinhart]

However not to stoke something that died along time ago but i couldn't care if they replaced him with a dead donkey. To see the back of the guy responsible for the monstrosity that was 4th edition and all of its associated delivery failures is nothing but a cause for celebration.

I don't think it's fair to "blame" 4th Edition on Greg Leeds. He arrived after the game had already gone through most of its development. I think we should recognize 4th Edition for what it really was: An honest attempt by the WotC game designers to update D&D into a new business model and broader audience. Unfortunately it alienated some of its existing fan-base in the process, but we shouldn't make the mistake of believing that D&D's design decisions are top-down strategies created by the WotC CEO. Each edition is very much the creative product the designers themselves, regardless of which edition we prefer.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Please tell me someone realizes there is a spelling error on the first line of this article and the Front Page.

" Chris Cocks. The changeover takes place on June 6th, with Leeds staying on to facilitate a smooth transfer. Greg Leeds has been President of WotC for 8 years, since 2008. Chris Cock's most recent position was Vice President of OEM Technical Sales at Microsoft. The full press release is below."

(Bold added to help illustrate the problem)

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It is either Chris Cocks or Chris Cock. If Cocks is his last name, in the possessive form, it should be " Cocks' "

Please straighten out the Cocks either way.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Good. The company needs someone who knows how a computer works beyond being able to use twitter. Maybe someone like COcks will be able to help Wotc stop failing miserably at every attempt to digitize.

I don't understand the concerns about digital content, though? Like, how or why does it interfere with your ability or willingness to buy physical products? It's not like they're going to stop making those.

 

[ZzarkLinux]

Thanks for the article Morrus.

I read the first half dozen pages, and I'll take the side of "D&D is just a drop in the bucket". This hiring isn't about D&D. The retirement probably has nothing related to D&D.

WotC flies and dies by Magic the Gathering, so I'm sure Chris Cocks is just going to leave everything D&D to Mike Mearls for the forseeable future. Though the Microsoft Reference does leave a bad taste in my mouth :-( That's all I'll say

Wasn't so much making fun at the guy as much as I was making puns.

FWIW there's lots of puns over at bleedinggreennation (Philadelphia Eagles football site). To keep things simple, they have a guy named Fletcher Cox who is a pass rusher whose contract is up for renegotiation. Lots of puns in those comments over there if you search, but that site probably isn't PG so I won't link it. ENWorld is (enjoyably) much cleaner than football sites

 

[evilbob]

Unfortunately, creating new things is not something that Hasbro and WotC do much anymore.

Now, I wouldn't go that far. WotC has made some poor choices but to their credit, EVERY few months they have new Magic cards and usually new mechanics and new pieces that really expand the game. It's possible to argue that this is just bolting on to an existing product that was so strong it can handle all that, but I still give them credit for not entirely ruining things - and by the numbers, making it more popular.

Creating entirely new IPs, though - no, they don't do that anymore. And frankly creating a new MtG IP to compete with Hearthstone is just a bad idea, anyway. Very few companies can stand toe-to-toe with Blizzard.

 

[Mark CMG]

Well, we know he's fairly wise, choosing to write the YA book under a pseudonym. Just look at what the adults are doing with his name . . .

 

[ZzarkLinux]

Well, we know he's fairly wise, choosing to write the YA book under a pseudonym. Just look at what the adults are doing with his name . . .

I kinda feel bad for the ENWorld admins during Chris C's tenure. If the football sites are any indication, people will be making these puns periodically, again and again, and again, and again. It will lead to increased moderator workload.

Actually, now I'm reminded of one of my college professors in Baltimore Maryland back in 2005. First name was Mark, last name was ... a vulgar term that I won't post outside of PM. On the first day of class he introduced himself: Hello everyone, welcome to Speech 201. I'm your professor. You Can Call Me Mark.

Anyway, I'm sure Chris C was hired for his manager skills as-well-as his passion for the hobby. He'll probably keep delegating D&D tasks to Mike Mearls, and keep delegating MtG tasks to Mark Rosewater. That's what good managers do: delegate the tasks to experts and keep a hands-off approach.

 

[dwayne]

So they go from leeds to cocks, does not sound too good to me. But will reserve my judgement as to where cocks will take them.