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Thread: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

  1. #1
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    Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Announcement

    Chris Cocks Joins as President of Wizards of the Coast from Microsoft

    PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hasbro, Inc. today announced that Greg Leeds has resigned as President of Wizards of the Coast, and will be replaced by Chris Cocks who joins the company from Microsoft. Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, offers games and entertainment under world-renowned brands such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUEL MASTERS. Leeds has served as the President of Wizards of the Coast since 2008, and started at Hasbro in 2001. He will stay on to ensure a smooth transition to Cocks, who will officially join the team in Seattle on June 6.

    "We are incredibly thankful to Greg for the tremendous contributions he has made to Hasbro, especially during his time leading Wizards of the Coast," said John Frascotti, President, Hasbro Brands. "Today, thanks to Greg's commitment and passion, Wizards of the Coast's brands are stronger than ever. Though MAGIC: THE GATHERING was introduced more than 20 years ago, it is more relevant and popular today than it's ever been, with a record number of people around the world playing the game and participating in MAGIC organized play events."

    Leeds will be replaced by Chris Cocks, who most recently served as Vice President, OEM Technical Sales at Microsoft Corporation, where he led a global sales and technical engagement team. Prior to his eight-year tenure with Microsoft, Chris served as Vice President of Educational Games at LeapFrog, where he led a cross-discipline team to drive hardware planning, software design and development, marketing and channel management. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble and served in product management and marketing leadership positions in Xbox and MSN, including work on hit franchises like Halo and Fable, prior to joining Leapfrog. Cocks is an avid player and fan of Wizards of the Coast brands, including MAGIC: THE GATHERING and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

    "We're very excited to welcome Chris to the Wizards of the Coast family," said Frascotti. "As an avid fan and player with extensive digital experience, I'm confident Chris is the right person to help us build on the tremendous momentum around our brands and take the franchise to the next level by delivering exciting new experiences to our growing and passionate fan base around the world."
    I wonder what caused them to replace Greg Leeds. Maybe the subpar management of the Online department? Hasbro seemed quite displeased with MTGO, compared to Hearthstone's insane money making. (MtG total revenue was like what? 250 million $ total for Paper + Online? While Hearthstone alone pulled 440+ million $ last year).

    It's interesting that they chose a tech guy, given their big plans for 2017 (release of Magic Digital Next, whatever that may be).

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Barook View Post
    I wonder what caused them to replace Greg Leeds.
    The way I read that, he was resigning on good terms. Otherwise why would he stick around to train the new guy?

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew View Post
    The way I read that, he was resigning on good terms. Otherwise why would he stick around to train the new guy?
    Could be written into contract language/severance package.
    Discussing the impact of True-Name Nemesis on Legacy:

    Quote Originally Posted by 2Rach View Post
    And format warping itself isn't necessarily a bad thing for that matter.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Arsenal View Post
    Could be written into contract language/severance package.
    True.

    I'd be curious to know more about Chris' experience playing Magic (what formats/level of competition).

    So is this someone new to harange about the reserved list?

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    It's exciting that they have chosen someone who comes from a more technological background, hopefully this means that Hasbro is going to push more of their software based products. Seems like he is a big fan of WoTC products which seems like a plus (although I guess everyone is going to say something like that when they join on in a high position).

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew View Post
    So is this someone new to harange about the reserved list?
    I don't think it would be that easy.

    I assume he's there to strengthen their digital department. No Android/OS X support and the sad state of MTGO is losing them tons of potential money.

    My personal hope is that he weeds out all the incompetent chucklefucks, although that is unlikely. Raging nepotism is a huge problem at WotC that is holding back the company imho.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Barook View Post
    Raging nepotism is a huge problem at WotC that is holding back the company imho.
    I have this mental image of people angrily promoting their friends/relatives.

    "Hey can I get a job"
    "FUCKING FINE JERRY I'LL GET YOU A JOB"
    "but my name is Gary.."
    "THATS IT YOUR WORKING ON MTGO"
    Quote Originally Posted by iatee View Post
    I still have a strong suspicion that if 'Thalia, Heretic Cathar' had been named 'Frank, Heretic Cathar', people would be a lot more skeptical of it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Goin Aggro View Post
    Ugh, there he goes again, talking about the girlfriend. We get it dude.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Vice President, OEM Technical Sales at Microsoft Corporation
    Welp, we're fucked.
    I think the biggest thing is the deep seeded emotional understanding that the right play is the right play regardless of outcomes. The ability to make a decision 5 straight times, lose 5 times because of it, and still make it the 6th time if it's the right play. - Jon Finkel

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    Welp, we're fucked.
    But in a new and exciting way!
    Quote Originally Posted by GreatWhale View Post
    Gross, other formats. I puked in my mouth a little.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    I hope this means the finally do MTGO justice.

  11. #11

    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Wow..., a guy from Microsoft, that means MTGO will be forever on Windows, never Mac.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Day 1 of new WotC president tour of the offices:

    CC: "So what's MTGO built on?"
    WW: "dot NET framework"
    CC: "... I'll be expecting a resignation letter by close of business."
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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Hasbro already announced a new digital version of the game a few months back that's supposed to replace both MTGO and Duels. Could actually work if they build a team from scratch, put the budget up to hire real software devs, and keep it somewhat independent of Wizards' bureaucracy.
    “It's possible. But it involves... {checks archives} Nature's Revolt, Opalescence, two Unstable Shapeshifters (one of which started as a Doppelganger), a Tide, an animated land, a creature with Fading, a Silver Wyvern, some way to get a creature into play in response to stuff, some way to get a land into play in response to stuff (a different land from the animated land), and one heck of a Rube Goldberg timing diagram.
    -David DeLaney

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by cdr View Post
    Hasbro already announced a new digital version of the game a few months back that's supposed to replace both MTGO and Duels. Could actually work if they build a team from scratch, put the budget up to hire real software devs, and keep it somewhat independent of Wizards' bureaucracy.
    And then create a licensing model that's so purposefully obfuscated they can create an additional revenue stream based on auditing peoples' virtual card collections.
    I think the biggest thing is the deep seeded emotional understanding that the right play is the right play regardless of outcomes. The ability to make a decision 5 straight times, lose 5 times because of it, and still make it the 6th time if it's the right play. - Jon Finkel

    "Notions of chance and fate are the preoccupation of men engaged in rash undertakings."

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by cdr View Post
    Hasbro already announced a new digital version of the game a few months back that's supposed to replace both MTGO and Duels. Could actually work if they build a team from scratch, put the budget up to hire real software devs, and keep it somewhat independent of Wizards' bureaucracy.
    https://company.wizards.com/about/ca...careers-view=1
    https://company.wizards.com/about/ca...careers-view=1
    https://company.wizards.com/about/ca...careers-view=1
    https://company.wizards.com/about/ca...careers-view=1

    All posted within the last week. So...
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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by cdr View Post
    Hasbro already announced a new digital version of the game a few months back that's supposed to replace both MTGO and Duels. Could actually work if they build a team from scratch, put the budget up to hire real software devs, and keep it somewhat independent of Wizards' bureaucracy.
    Hasbro had ~65 million $ increased expenses in a sector last year which they mainly attributed to the development of Magic Digital Next. They expect alot of money coming from it starting 2017, with decreased expenses starting 2018. To me, it sounds like they hired an outside software team which they are going to lay off after the release of Magic Digital Next.

    Paying way under industry standard and regularly firing people related to MTGO in less than a year to avoid additional obligations are shitty practices based on corporate culture for whom the man in charge is responsible. Here's hope for a change of direction.

    Even if it's a Microsoft guy, I don't think Hasbro would hire someone that makes them miss another round in the Android & OS X market.

  17. #17

    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by twndomn View Post
    Wow..., a guy from Microsoft, that means MTGO will be forever on Windows, never Mac.
    Just like how Microsoft Office isn't available for Macs, right?

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Seth View Post
    Just like how Microsoft Office isn't available for Macs, right?
    or Android. or iOS.

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    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    So appearently Wizards is looking for two programmers with Unity experience. Looks like Magic Digital Next is built in Unity. Is that a good or bad thing? I've heard very mixed results about that engine.

  20. #20

    Re: Hasbro Announces New Leadership for Wizards of the Coast

    Quote Originally Posted by Barook View Post
    So appearently Wizards is looking for two programmers with Unity experience. Looks like Magic Digital Next is built in Unity. Is that a good or bad thing? I've heard very mixed results about that engine.
    For whatever it's worth, Hearthstone is made with Unity.

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