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.

 

[Mercule]

Don't worry. I'm no hater. I won't build that strawman I think the MS devs and community are good people. I'm glad you make progress with the dev community. My gripes are about the past decisions, and what was lost, and I don't think Chris C was involved in that.

Based on Chris's prior job title of "VP OEM Sales":
(0) Chris C probably wasn't involved with XP SP3 and "Windows Genuine Advantage"
(1) Chris C probably wasn't involved with "Windows Protected Bootload"
(2) Chris C probably wasn't involved with ODF vs OOXML
(3) Chris C probably wasn't involved with the anti-trust suits
(4) Chris C probably wasn't involved with funding SCO vs Novell
(5) Chris C probably doesn't control patent offices
(6) Chris C probably didn't cause Gamestops to go from Nintendo-and-Sony to 80% Microsoft products ;-)

I hope Chris C shares my philosopies
Curious on your thoughts.

At the risk of a minor derail...
A lot of those concerns are from the "old guard" era. There's a certain amount of unpleasantness that I "expect" from large corporations, especially around patents. It's like politics: I assume anyone operating at that level has no soul. Google does it. Oracle is nasty about it. I'm sure MS still does it, but they are no longer knee-capping thugs.

As someone who tried Android and hated it, I will admit to finding the amount of money MS makes from related patents to be hilarious. But, I'll also grant that I tried Android in the early days (3.2) and it's probably much better, now. I still won't use it, though, because I've grown to distrust Google to an extreme amount and would not be willing to buy anything from the Play store. If Microsoft ever does go all-in with Cyanogen, I'd be really tempted to give it a try, though.

I'm a very, very casual video game player. I just finally got a PS4, but otherwise have generally been close to a generation behind. I rarely buy anything until it hits the $20 rack. Gamestop barely even holds enough allure to beat out shoe shopping with my wife. IIRC, the local Gamestop is about 50/50, though. I think Nintendo killed themselves by releasing two lackluster consoles back-to-back.

 

[ZzarkLinux]

A lot of those concerns are from the "old guard" era. There's a certain amount of unpleasantness that I "expect" from large corporations, especially around patents. It's like politics

I understand the "old guard" reference. IMO after the ... tech landscape changed (putting it politely) ... then Microsoft changed for the better. That company is much different now. Ce La Vie and all that.

I guess the Microsoft-vs-Apple-vs-Google debate is kinda like the 2e-vs-Pathfinder-vs-4e debate. Maybe Chris Cocks's experience in the tech wars will help him with the edition wars

I don't know what's worse, the kindergarten word-plays, or the fretting over Microsoft "cooties".

EDIT: This topic might come up during discussions, it just seems unavoidable.

Back On Topic, I wonder if/when Chris will address the D&D community. If his twitter is usually quiet then that indicates he knows how to manage information. Do you think Mike Mearls will tell Chris "Be careful what you say: the D&D community is fickle"?

 

[Warbringer]

From his LinkedIn ... It bodes well

Chris is that rare breed of executive who marries a razor sharp business acumen with a sprawling creativity that makes him an ideal general manager. A first-rate communicator and excellent cross-functional lead, Chris brings an infectious focus on results to all his teams. We will miss him.

 

[TheSwartz]

I wonder if this will finally translate into some D&D tech products that don't suck? Maybe this is a guy who'll finally take my money for 5e core books in PDF?

 

[Emirikol_Prime]

View attachment 76223

Pretty much says it all. I hope he can leave that mentality at MS.

 

[MoonSong]

Funny. The other day there was a South Park rerun while I was having lunch with my cousin, the episode? "Cock Magic" -basically underground cockfights, but the play MTG duels instead- after reading this the picture is fixated on my head now I can't stop thinking of chicken playing MTG duels with a Tron landscape in the background...

 

[mflayermonk]

Having moved into a Java and OSS group a while back, I get to hear all sorts of Microsoft rants that, quite honestly, make the ranter sound like a complete idiot. It's like reading a review of "The Force Awakens" that trashes Lucas for creating wooden characters. I'm well aware that there are plenty of reasons to dislike any given company and, if you dislike Microsoft of 2016 for reasons relevant in 2016 (or not, actually), it's no skin off my nose. IME, there is significant section of folks who have built up a straw man of Microsoft that is wholly detached from reality.

Now, it is the good folks in VMware/Citrix that get to rant about Microsoft.

 

[Big Mac]

The new WotC President has the bug fix for 4th Edition: "Have you tried turning Forgotten Realms off and on again?"