Hasbro brings in veteran Blizzard senior exec John Hight as Wizards of the Coast, digital gaming president

Gaming giant Hasbro has named long-serving Blizzard senior exec John Hight as its new president of Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming, three months after the resignation of former incumbent Cynthia Williams.

Hight takes on responsibility for leading strategy at Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons as part of the role, in addition to overseeing Hasbro’s network of gaming studios and digital licensing agreements.

He previously spent 12 years at video games major Blizzard Entertainment, where he was senior vice president and general manager of the Warcraft franchise. He directed development for several World of Warcraft expansions, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, and Diablo III on console.

Hasbro said Hight’s appointment “marks a significant step in Hasbro’s strategic focus on digital experiences and video games”.

That move seems unsurprising given the powerful performance of last year’s Dungeons & Dragons-based video game release Baldur’s Gate III, which had sold 15 million copies by March of this year.

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 replaces Cynthia Williams, who resigned from the company in April after just two years in the role.

Hasbro hired Williams in February 2022 to head up Wizards of the Coast and its digital gaming operations, with WotC’s then president and COO Chris Cocks transitioning to become Hasbro CEO following the death of long-time incumbent Brian Goldner.

During her tenure WotC outperformed for Hasbro, with Magic: The Gathering becoming the company’s first brand to exceed $1bn in annual revenue in 2022.

WotC saw a 10% revenue bump year-on-year in 2023 compared to a 15% revenue slide for Hasbro as a whole, underpinned by the ongoing strength of Magic and Dungeons & Dragons – particularly the hugely successful release of Baldur’s Gate III.

Williams’ tenure has been marred with controversy too, however. At the end of 2022 she told an investor seminar D&D was “undermonetised” despite the game having “never been more popular”. A month later Hasbro was forced to apologise when leaked plans emerged that would see its long-standing Open Gaming Licence changed to introduce charges and control stipulations over the work of third-party creators – causing a huge backlash from fans.

She also presided over WotC during its decision to send Pinkerton agents to the house of a YouTube creator to retrieve mistakenly sold cards from a then unreleased Magic: The Gathering set, which he had leaked online.

Williams joined Funko in early May as chief executive officer. Funko sold its board game and puzzles assets, including those of its tabletop game design team Prospero Hall, to Rummikub maker Goliath in January.

Sources within Funko Games spoke to BoardGameWire at the time on condition of anonymity, painting a bleak picture of the sale to Goliath, in which employees have been working for months amid huge uncertainty about their future.

Hight’s appointment comes almost exactly a week before Hasbro releases its Q2 2024 results. The company recorded a jump in profits in the first quarter of 2024 on the back of continued strength from Wizards of the Coast and Magic, and an ongoing cost-cutting programme which has involved the planned layoffs of nearly 2,000 people.

Wizards of the Coast, which includes both Magic and D&D, saw revenues rise 7% in Q1, continuing its outperformance for Hasbro across the whole of 2023.

The unit’s operating profit surged 60%, to $122.8m, compared to Q1 2023 – greater than the total for the whole of Hasbro – after a $46.9m operating loss from its consumer products segment, which includes Nerf guns, Transformers and Peppa Pig toys, and costs from the sale of its eOne entertainment division weighed on the company’s overall profits.

Hasbro continued to have a fairly negative outlook for 2024 in the Q1 results, however, expecting Wizards of the Coast revenue to drop between 3% and 5%, and consumer products revenue to fall between 7% and 12%.