WotC WotC President Cynthia Williams Resigns

Cynthia Williams, who has been president of Wizards of the Coast for the last two years, will be leaving the company at the end of the month, according to an SEC filing dated April 15th. Hasbro is already looking for somebody to step into the role.

Williams worked for Microsoft on the Gaming Ecosystem Commercial Team before joining WotC two years ago, stepping into the role that then-president Chris Cocks vacated when he was promoted to CEO of Hasbro in February 2022.

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On April 15, 2024, Cynthia Williams, President of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro Gaming, informed the Company of her resignation from the Company effective April 26, 2024. The Company is conducting a process to identify her successor, looking at both internal and external candidates.

According to Rascal News, WotC responded with a comment: "We’re excited for Cynthia to take the next step in her career and grateful for the contributions she has made in her more than two years at Wizards and Hasbro. We wish her the absolute best in her next endeavor. We have started the search for our next President of Wizards of the Coast and hope to have a successor in place soon."

 

[Dire Bare]

Any chance that the new boss will be AI?

How do you know Cynthia Williams isn't an AI-generated executive? Have you ever met her in person!?!?!

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Seeing people wondering if she was simply set up as the 'fall guy'. Announce a ton of unpopular things, depart the company, and bring in someone else to placate the customers.

 

[Dire Bare]

However, please not Star Frontiers. No need to give nuTSR any fuel to claim "they won".

I don't think anyone should be basing decisions on what nuTSR might or might not do or think.

 

[nyvinter]

Seeing people wondering if she was simply set up as the 'fall guy'. Announce a ton of unpopular things, depart the company, and bring in someone else to placate the customers.

In that case, they forgot to do the things she'd be a fall guy for. WotC under her management has been pretty much same as the last two to four.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Seeing people wondering if she was simply set up as the 'fall guy'. Announce a ton of unpopular things, depart the company, and bring in someone else to placate the customers.

That would be a pointlessly expensive exercise. Those aren't people worth listening to on such matters.

 

[Alzrius]

I was surprised when Cocks stated that they planned on doing this . . . I got the impression he thought it would be an easy thing and didn't understand that it would take significant staff time . . . to not screw it up like they did when they released IP into the CC along with the 5E SRD.

It wouldn't take significant staff time. It would barely take any.

I don't know why people keep parroting that line about "we have to carefully review the old SRDs before releasing them into the Creative Commons in order to make sure that there's no accidental release of our IP in them, the way there was in the 5E SRD was released." We know what's in those old SRDs; we've known for decades. Those documents are already 100% Open Game Content; any IP in them would have been noted ages ago and made use of accordingly.

 

[kenmarable]

It wouldn't take significant staff time. It would barely take any.

I don't know why people keep parroting that line about "we have to carefully review the old SRDs before releasing them into the Creative Commons in order to make sure that there's no accidental release of our IP in them, the way there was in the 5E SRD was released." We know what's in those old SRDs; we've known for decades. Those documents are already 100% Open Game Content; any IP in them would have been noted ages ago and made use of accordingly.

Not to continue this tangent, but there is a massive difference between the fact that WE know they are clear of any IP and the level of management that likely got massively chewed out for releasing "Strahd" and such knowing that comfortably enough to sign off on it. They likely set up an overly onerous review and approval process to cover their butts to avoid any further wrath from above regardless of how much any lower ranking employee tried to convince them how unnecessary that is.

At least from my experience in corporations, this is 1000% relatable and extremely common. If someone in management gets in trouble or even slightly embarrassed, everyone below them has to immediately start jumping through arbitrary hoops to help them save face in the future. So much wasted effort to pamper middle- & upper-management bruised egos.

 

[SkidAce]

 

[Xethreau]

Re: Cynthia Willam's departure, I always wondered whether she wrote that infamous line:

You're going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. Those people will only be half right. They won – and so did we.

I guess we'll never know.

 

[mamba]

I got the impression he thought it would be an easy thing and didn't understand that it would take significant staff time . . . to not screw it up like they did when they released IP into the CC along with the 5E SRD.

because making the name 'Strahd' available had so devastating consequences...