WotC New WotC President Is World of Warcraft's John Hight

After WotC president Cynthia Williams resigned a couple of months ago, taking up the CEO role at Funko, we've been waiting to hear who her replacement will be.

WotC has now announced that John Hight--who previously managed the World of Warcraft franchise for Blizzard Entertainment--is taking over. Like Williams, Hight comes from a video gaming background.

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said "I admire John’s career focus on fostering community. He is a true embodiment of our mission to bring people together through play. John’s love of D&D and Magic: The Gathering, combined with his leadership in video games, will be crucial as we expand our digital offerings to deliver what our fans crave."

Hight worked at Blizzard for 12 years, on both World of Warcraft and Diablo. According to Business Wire, his role includes oversight of Hasbro's network of gaming studios and digital licensing agreements.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Let’s say I don’t know as much as you about it. If you know so much about it then shouldn’t have been a problem to post the evidence that caused you to draw the particular conclusions in question.

Like why the heck should I take your word for it?

With respect:



Seriously I'm not 26 anymore, I got too much going on to spend 2+ hours assembling sources just because someone on the internet is both wrong and unwilling to even lift a single finger to look into it. Whether you believe me or not isn't going to change the facts, and I've had enough of sealioning, even the unintentional kind which results purely from being unwilling to even look it up on wikipedia, let alone research it.

 

[FrogReaver]

With respect:



Seriously I'm not 26 anymore, I got too much going on to spend 2+ hours assembling sources just because someone on the internet is both wrong and unwilling to even lift a single finger to look into it. Whether you believe me or not isn't going to change the facts, and I've had enough of sealioning, even the unintentional kind which results purely from being unwilling to even look it up on wikipedia, let alone research it.

Then don’t. But you ain’t got to act like this about it.

A ‘sorry don’t have the time right now’ would have been sufficient.

 

[Scribe]

I mean I only looked at this naughty word from a very general high level view, but didnt the State of California even sue/charge/whatever Blizzard at some point?

I'm trying to clamp down on my cynicism but honestly, the dude is going to try and make Wizards make more money, thats all, thats his purpose. WoW made (makes?) a lot of money. Guy seems like a gamer, so, ok. Make games and make money. Thats what these people do.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Honestly my concern with Hight's involvement with Blizzard had far less to do with whether the WoW expansions are duds or not. It had almost entirely to do with Blizzard's various scandals, particularly in regards to management either contributing, ignoring, or gaslighting toxic/abusive behavior at their workplace. If people say that Hight was not involved in that giant mess, then my biggest fear with his appointment is gone.

On the other hand, synergy.

 

[Michael Linke]

Doesn't it say something that people even need to ASK whether Hight had a part to play in the misconduct? Like, I can't find anything in google connecting his name to any of the scandals, and given the history at Blizzard, is there any way Hasbro would have hired him without a thorough professional background check? Isn't it likely Microsoft performed their own investigations post-acquisition to make sure those bad eggs were removed as liabilities as well? I think if there was cause for concern, one wouldn't need to ask. You'd find a paper trail and already know.

 

[Vaalingrade]

A ‘sorry don’t have the time right now’ would have been sufficient.

Has this ever stopped the 'write me an essay or I will harass you forever' traditions of Enworld?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For most CRPGs, including WoW, I don't really think of it as "roleplaying"; the storyline is more like reading a book or watching a TV show where I get to design what the protagonist looks like. As a player, I don't make enough choices to actually be invested, or feel somehow culpable for what happens in the storyline.

Based on threads on this forum over the decades, that describes plenty of home tabletop games as well.

We still get threads where DMs are outraged that players aren't following the story they've decided upon and threads where players are frustrated that the DMs expect them to figure out -- on their own, like cavemen -- what sort of adventure they want to take on.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's a no-win situation for Blizzard, because so many players are passionately rooted in the factionalism concept. As in, I've known multiple RL players who, to this day, won't play one faction or the other.

Not to mention what has to be a crushing amount of legacy code debt rooted in the faction concept, even if (as I suspect) they would love to finally unite the factions both in lore and mechanically.

They're doing it progressively. My day one Alliance guild now has Horde members in it, for instance, and all or almost all (I don't remember which) instanced content can now be done cross-faction.

I would guess we're an expansion away, at most, from everyone being able to group together all of the time. It wouldn't shock me if that was part of the surprise 20th anniversary updates we're getting this November. (Blizzard has been quietly recreating all of the old world assets with modern graphical quality for several years now and hasn't deployed them, which seems like a plan to drop it all at once on the 20th anniversary.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean I only looked at this naughty word from a very general high level view, but didnt the State of California even sue/charge/whatever Blizzard at some point?

Yep. I believe there was eventually an eye-popping settlement by Activision/Blizzard.

 

[FrogReaver]

Has this ever stopped the 'write me an essay or I will harass you forever' traditions of Enworld?

Sorry, but harass? There was no harassment in this instance and definitely not ‘forever harassment’