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.

 

[KYRON45]

Yes - there is such a thing called "games journalism" and people tend to following gaming news, if that's what you mean by the amount of 'research' on display here

Interesting.
I miss Dragon Magazine.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

But also, There’s just not the same fear that they are trying to make d&d a mmo anymore.

In further irony WotC literally are trying to do that with the 5E 3D VTT (which would have both a subscription and microtransactions according to the early promo info WotC gave out), which is apparently now named Sigil (the nerve!), but because it's clearly alongside the main game, I think people are freaking out less.

 

[Vaalingrade]

In further irony WotC literally are trying to do that with the 5E 3D VTT (which would have both a subscription and microtransactions according to the early promo info WotC gave out), which is apparently now named Sigil (the nerve!), but because it's clearly alongside the main game, I think people are freaking out less.

I'm more mad that they stole the name of my favorite ebook creation software--and that they keep insisting on pronouncing it in the worst possible way as if to tell the creator of gifs files 'hold my beer'.

 

[Umbran]

Has been mostly my experience in the past.

Mod Note:
Then, by all means, don't engage.

But that means, "Respectfully or silently decline," rather than, "berate and belittle people about how you aren't going to engage."

Do not take your frustrations out on other posters.

 

[mamba]

I just wanted to observe a remarkable irony here that people are praising the fact that we have a WoW guy in charge in 5E, whereas 4E allegedly resembling WoW (it did not, but that's a separate discussion), largely based on an ill-advised comment months before release by a WotC exec was literally a reason repeatedly and strongly cited to not buy 4E lol.

the new guy will not have much of an impact on 5e, the 2024 books are done, he will focus on the software and when new books are being worked on by 2030 chances are he is not around any more, so not really that much irony

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess he will be very busy with the videogames and the brand as multimedia franchise.

The look of 4ed had got a lot of Warcraft vibes.

If Hasbro wanted something like 4ed then they should try it with a different brand, Hero Quest.

I don't know enough for this type of speculation but if Hasbro becomes too valuable thanks its videogame studios, maybe Microsoft was interested, but I don't advice it because someones are closed after being acquired and the bigger company needs to make budget cuts, and the loss of creative independence.

 

[Oofta]

I agree it’s ironic and was going to make a similar point. But also, There’s just not the same fear that they are trying to make d&d a mmo anymore.

Sort of. Some people are pushing the idea that D&D will be this walled garden with evil microtransaction gnomes running around forcing us, and 3PPs, to pay them ever more money. The specifics have changed is all.

 

[Oofta]

When discussing technology, it's not just games. Hight also has experience working with a tech company and understands the investments required in software development and keeping things up and running. So he has exposure to the same sort of issues that will come up with things like DDB and the VTT as well as video game development. That was likely one of the things weighing in his favor.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

When discussing technology, it's not just games. Hight also has experience working with a tech company and understands the investments required in software development and keeping things up and running. So he has exposure to the same sort of issues that will come up with things like DDB and the VTT as well as video game development. That was likely one of the things weighing in his favor.

This was one of the things that WoTC clearly lacked back in the Gleemax era. I do not know if the ttrpg market has reached saturation but it must be close. If they want to grow this is an obvious growth path but they need experienced management to make it successful. Is this the guy for the job, I have no clue.

 

[Parmandur]

This was one of the things that WoTC clearly lacked back in the Gleemax era. I do not know if the ttrpg market has reached saturation but it must be close. If they want to grow this is an obvious growth path but they need experienced management to make it successful. Is this the guy for the job, I have no clue.

Only time will tell. He offers an interesting combination of having the experience relevant to where WotC wants to go, but also a personal familiarity with their traditional products.

I dunno how it will go down, but if I were the one hiring for the job, I would be intrigued by his resume.