The time really has flown by. While we’ve been busy gawping at spoilers, three months have passed since Cynthia Williams resigned from her position. Formerly the President of Wizards of the Coast, Williams’ tenure was marred with controversy, even if profits did soar. Now, at long last, a new WotC President is filling the vacant role. Wizards of the Coast has appointed John Hight as their new leader, and he’s a big name in the gaming world to say the least.
Stepping Up To The Plate
John Hight is certainly no stranger to the games industry. He’s a veteran of Blizzard Entertainment, the monolithic studio behind World of Warcraft, Diablo, and much, much more. His career there spanned a meaty 12 years, 10 of which were spent as the Executive Producer and Vice President of World of Warcraft. Two of those years were spent as the General Manager for the entire Warcraft franchise.
All of this experience in the video games sector will serve Hight well. Not only will he be President of WotC, but he will also be taking on the role of Digital Gaming President for all of Hasbro. This means he’ll be handling MTG and Dungeons Dragons, as expected. It also means he’ll be managing the entirety of Hasbro’s gaming studio network, including the mega-popular Monopoly Go! A truly daunting responsibility, but one that Hasbro seems confident he can handle.
In their announcement, Hasbro noted that Hight’s appointment “marks a significant step in Hasbro’s strategic focus on digital experiences and video games.” Chris Cocks, current CEO of Hasbro and another ex-President of WotC, concurred: “I admire John’s career focus on fostering community. He is a true embodiment of our mission to bring people together through play.”
A Warm Welcome
It’s not just Hasbro who are excited about this new appointment. The Magic community is taking the news positively, too. In a Reddit thread discussing the development, many were quick to express their approval.
“As a long time WoW player, John Hight is exactly the kind of person I would want in charge of things.”
Ojomon_
This was an idea echoed by others in the thread. “Hight? This is very good.” noted ch_limited. ElCaz felt similarly, adding “Looks like the guy is an actual game designer, which is definitely good news.” The general consensus was that John Hight’s tenure at Blizzard has been a big net positive for the games he worked on. As Darth-Ragnar put it, “The main thing is he helped turn the game around from being anti-player to player-friendly.”
Beyond his ability as a manager on big, fan-favorite projects, John Hight also has a reputation as someone who genuinely loves games, and works in the industry based on that. TateTaylorOH put it succinctly: “After looking into Hight and reading a few interviews I’m cautiously optimistic. From what I’ve seen so far it appears that he’s more of a designer/developer than purely a corporate suit.”
ReddKane felt similarly: “If nothing else he always seemed like he actually liked WoW so hopefully he likes WOTC games too.” Hopefully indeed. Hight’s views on these games remain unknown for now, but his tenure at Blizzard is looked back on fondly thanks to the love he put into it. One can only hope he applies the same spirit to his time at WotC.
Read More: Bloomburrow’s Anime Art Cards Are A Serious Flavor Fail
