WotC WotC President Chris Cocks is Hasbro’s New CEO

Hasbro has appointed WotC president Chris Cocks as it’s new CEO.

Hasbro Names Chris Cocks as Chief Executive Officer

PAWTUCKET, R.I., January 05, 2022--Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chris Cocks as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective February 25, 2022. Mr. Cocks currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of...

finance.yahoo.com

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chris Cocks as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective February 25, 2022. Mr. Cocks currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming division, a global leader in tabletop and digital gaming. He will succeed Interim CEO, Rich Stoddart, who was appointed following the October passing of Hasbro’s longtime CEO Brian Goldner. Mr. Stoddart, who has served as a Hasbro independent director since 2014, will become Chair of the Board, effective February 25, 2022.

 

[darjr]

Congrats! Wow!

 

[Stormonu]

I don’t know what effect this may have on D&D, but I sure hope they can rescue GI Joe (the “brand” does seem to be taking a good turn here lately, not counting the Snake-Eyes flop). I need me a re-issued Cobra Rattler!

 

[Nikosandros]

I was struck by this sentence:

Under Mr. Cocks’s leadership, revenue at Wizards of the Coast has more than doubled, surpassing $1 billion in 2021.

I wonder who will they pick as a successor for WotC.

 

[darjr]

I was struck by this sentence:

I think it was last year that they said WotC made more than all the rest of Hasbro.

 

[sevenbastard]

I think it was last year that they said WotC made more many than all the rest of Hasbro.

Imagine if they would have released Spell Jammer ! They would have made five times that at least.

 

[Oofta]

Imagine if they would have released Spell Jammer ! They would have made five times that at least.

I think their profits would have gone TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!!

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I guess the Hasbro owners liked how he Cocked up things at WotC

 

[GreyLord]

I'm not so sure Spelljammer is worth all that much on name alone. I think Dragonlance has more name recognition these days, or even Planescape!

Spelljammer is remembered fondly by a small minority of fans from the late 2e period of AD&D, but I don't think there are a ton of others who actually know much about it.

That said, I think there is a band of nostalgia regarding it among some of the people working currently on D&D at WotC and that may bring in some material dealing with that topic in the near future (or not...up to them I would suppose).

I think it depends more on how they present and market it on how much it may or may not bring in profits if that situation arises.

 

[Michael Linke]

I'm not so sure Spelljammer is worth all that much on name alone. I think Dragonlance has more name recognition these days, or even Planescape!

Spelljammer is remembered fondly by a small minority of fans from the late 2e period of AD&D, but I don't think there are a ton of others who actually know much about it.

I feel like you must have that backward. Spelljammer is copyright 1989, the same year as 2nd Edition. Planescape was released 1994, not long before the black cover reprints, and pretty close to the tail end of 2nd edition's support.

I'd buy that late 2nd edition players have a sense of nostalgia over WANTING to play Spelljammer, as it was out of print around the time they got sucked into the game by a FirstQuest or DragonStrike starter set, but TSR's in-book ads seemed unconcerned with whether the stuff they told you to buy was even possible to buy anymore.

At the end of the day, you're right: Spelljammer is the less popular cousin to Planescape. It's just how you got to that conclusion that seems off.

 

[Staffan]

I'm not so sure Spelljammer is worth all that much on name alone. I think Dragonlance has more name recognition these days, or even Planescape!

Spelljammer is remembered fondly by a small minority of fans from the late 2e period of AD&D, but I don't think there are a ton of others who actually know much about it.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Given Cocks’ in-depth knowledge of WotC, I wonder if they will be given slightly more importance going forward and we’ll see increased exposure for D&D as a result.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Spelljammer's advantage is it has a concept space that would be very well received in the current headspace of fantasy gaming, a thing which was a curiosity when it originally appeared might bloom into something much more interesting today. Planescape has a different problem: a legacy of products which were amazingly exotic and innovative for their time, which informed much of gaming's visual and headspace afterward, thus reducing the impact of a revival considerably today if only because their exotic elements are now part of the common background in fantasy art and themes. As such....selling Planescape today would be harder to do since it looks like so much else (because all that other stuff was influenced to some degree by it); but Spelljammer has been lying low for a long time now, and the desire for really exotic, genre-bending settings is seriously on the rise now.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

The nerds are winning!

 

[overgeeked]

That's wild. Good for him. The question is will they move one of the heads from MtG or D&D to replace Cocks or bring someone in from outside. Most likely it'll be the head of whichever brand made the most money for the company. If it's D&D, that means Winninger.

 

[Parmandur]

I don’t know what effect this may have on D&D, but I sure hope they can rescue GI Joe (the “brand” does seem to be taking a good turn here lately, not counting the Snake-Eyes flop). I need me a re-issued Cobra Rattler!

I mean, it's probably pretty good since the CEO of Hasbro is now someone who played D&D and Magic growing up. It's a new generation.

 

[Parmandur]

Imagine if they would have released Spell Jammer ! They would have made five times that at least.

That's the 2022 business plan.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Spelljammer's advantage is it has a concept space that would be very well received in the current headspace of fantasy gaming, a thing which was a curiosity when it originally appeared might bloom into something much more interesting today. Planescape has a different problem: a legacy of products which were amazingly exotic and innovative for their time, which informed much of gaming's visual and headspace afterward, thus reducing the impact of a revival considerably today if only because their exotic elements are now part of the common background in fantasy art and themes. As such....selling Planescape today would be harder to do since it looks like so much else (because all that other stuff was influenced to some degree by it); but Spelljammer has been lying low for a long time now, and the desire for really exotic, genre-bending settings is seriously on the rise now.

I just think that D&D in Space is a super popular idea already, even amongst people that aren't familiar with Spelljammer.

 

[J.Quondam]

I hope this dramatically raises the odds of a D&D / Potato Head crossover setting.

 

[jgsugden]

I hope this dramatically raises the odds of a D&D / Potato Head crossover setting.