A new SEC filing reveals that Cynthia Williams plans to step down as president at Hasbro-owned game company Wizards of the Coast.
No specific reason has been publicly offered for Williams’ departure, which is effective April 26.
“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,” a Hasbro representative told GeekWire. “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.”
After stints with Microsoft’s Xbox team and Amazon’s finance and fulfillment departments, Williams took over from departing Wizards president Chris Cocks in February 2022.
In a little over two years, Williams oversaw a period in which Wizards’ flagship games, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, were both extraordinarily successful and frequently controversial.
During Williams’ time as president, Wizards released multiple major projects, such as the revivals of the fan-favorite settings Dragonlance and Planescape for D&D; the 100th expansion for Magic, the Western-themed Outlaws of Thunder Junction; the release of the major motion picture Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; and the foundation of several new video game studios under the Wizards umbrella.
Most critically, Williams presided over the official release of the D&D video game adaptation Baldur’s Gate 3, which recently made video game history by sweeping the Game of the Year category at all five major award shows.
However, she was also president during several different incidents where Wizards ran up against the issues raised by generative-art AI programs, including the accidental inclusion of AI art in an official D&D sourcebook; multiple aborted video game projects; and maybe most famously, the furor that arose over D&D’s Open Gaming License in January 2023.
More recently, Williams’ Wizards underwent sudden layoffs just before Christmas which resulted in the dismissal of at least 20 employees.
Wizards of the Coast was prone to controversy well before Williams’ time as president, particularly in 2020. The TTRPG business has always seemed to invite drama, and as the industry leader, Wizards has a greater share of that than most companies in the space. However, during Williams’ time as president, Wizards of the Coast has seen some of the highest highs and lowest lows in its 34-year history.
At time of writing, Wizards has yet to officially announce Williams’ departure or establish who will be her successor.
