![\"\"](\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Cynthia-Williams-1024x683.jpg\")
Hasbro hired Williams in February 2022 to head up Wizards of the Coast and its digital gaming operations, with WotC\u2019s then president and COO Chris Cocks transitioning to become Hasbro CEO following the death of long-time incumbent Brian Goldner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her tenure WotC outperformed for Hasbro, with Magic: The Gathering becoming the company\u2019s first brand to exceed $1bn in annual revenue in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WotC saw a 10% revenue bump year-on-year in 2023 compared to a 15% revenue slide for Hasbro as a whole<\/a>, underpinned by the ongoing strength of Magic and Dungeons & Dragons \u2013 particularly the hugely successful release of Baldur\u2019s Gate III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Williams\u2019 tenure has been marred with controversy too, however. At the end of 2022 she told an investor seminar D&D was \u201cundermonetised\u201d despite the game having \u201cnever been more popular\u201d. A month later Hasbro was forced to apologise<\/a> 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 \u2013 causing a huge backlash from fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also presided over WotC\u00a0during its decision to send Pinkerton agents to the house of a YouTube creator<\/a>\u00a0to retrieve mistakenly sold cards from a then unreleased Magic: The Gathering set, which he had leaked online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources within Funko Games spoke to BoardGameWire at the time on condition of anonymity, painting a bleak picture of the sale to Goliath<\/a>, in which employees have been working for months amid huge uncertainty about their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s overall profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n