Between Universes Beyond, 30th Anniversary Edition, and their constant hunger for profits, MTG players rarely praise the game’s corporate higher-ups. Despite this lack of affection, however, it’s impossible to deny that Magic: The Gathering has been doing very well recently. Shattering sales records in the past quarter, Wizards has been raking in money; however, not every venture is so successful.
As much as Magic: The Gathering is doing well, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows at Wizards of the Coast. Writing down $56 million in cancelled assets during Hasbro’s Q2 report, Wizards revealed several planned video games had been cancelled. Following this, the President of Wizards of the Coast, John Hight, has announced he’s stepping down after just two years.
All Change
Revealed in an SEC filing, John Hight will leave his position as WotC President on September 1st. In the filing, no official reason for Hight stepping down was announced; however, the recently cancelled games are an obvious root cause. Beyond just being a blow to Wizards, it’s believed that these games were a big focus and passion for Hight.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a spokesperson for Wizards downplayed the impact of Hight leaving the company. Stating, “There is no change to the strength of the Wizards business,” the company is confident in its current performance. Given just how much money MTG has been making recently, it’s hard to be surprised by this declaration.
While Wizards is doing very well as a business, it’s unclear what this departure means for MTG. Even with Hight staying on in an advisory role, there could be a change of direction soon. That being said, messing with MTG’s clearly winning formula could be a mistake, so I wouldn’t expect a dramatic overhaul.
Realistically, it remains to be seen how, or even if, the new President of Wizards will change things once chosen. For now, Wizards has only said they’ve launched an internal and external search, and it’s unclear how long that’ll take. Hopefully, we’ll find out before Hight steps down to get some insight into MTG’s future.
Ultimately, even when a successor is announced, I wouldn’t expect an overnight transformation. With MTG sets taking between three and four years to develop nowadays, it’ll be a long while before anything likely changes.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew.