SHOCKER! Williams Out as Wizards' CEO! Her replacement is... ( 

I vote for Deathbringer too, he knows exactly where to make cuts

Players weren’t under monetized, but executive staff were over paid.

I'd be shocked if it wasn't another Corpo. Hell, I'd be rightly floored if the new CEO has ever rolled a d20 or turned a land sideways.

I think Professor Dungeon Master should be the new CEO. He has forgotten more about gaming than Cynthia ever knew. He knows the business. He understands the players. He is an icon of the community. It only makes sense.

ROFL you mentioned Glicker, he jokingly mentioned himself on his stream, now we wait for that AI generated news site to publish an article....

It's kind of sad. She worked so hard showing she could be the ultimate BBEG, and they went with Vecna instead. No wonder she left; I wouldn't put up with that kind of slight, either.

I'll do it. 6 and a half million dollars a year even if you crap the bed? Where do I send my resume, Hasbro?

I love actually getting notified for All Dungeon Craft videos, especially as I'm watching Bob World Builder's take on the same breaking news. (But no really, the "all" Bell icon setting seems to be working over here!)

Who ever then end up picking, it needs to be someone in the hobby who understands the pulse of the hobby and community otherwise Wizards will down turn even more. I think the change of leadership is also an attempt to save face and salvage good will with the new launch coming up soon. Similar to small businesses reopening "under new management" to signal people to come back and try the business again.

I think if she was pushed out of the role, they'd already have her replacement lined up.

9:50 You're not wrong about the Legos, Professor Dungeon Master!

I suspect this change is due to Williams having outlived her usefulness, and it may well have been planned from the beginning. Williams comes in, makes the hard, often unpopular decisions, and takes the blame from the fans. She leaves, but her decisions stay, and suddenly a lot of the bad will goes with her. Basically, she is the corporate version of all of the writer/editors that got canned, they simply didn’t need her anymore.

"While the company celebrates 50 years" ... where? How? I don't see any of that

CEOs works like this. Arrive, take money, make short term profits plans, then leave the shit behind.

I vote, Deathbringer for WotC CEO. They can hire Glicker to run the book publishing division, and take Mark along because they are definitely a team.

@6:17 , I would only give her that if she'd actually considered canceling the contract with Larian and chose not to. @6:51 , the "why now" question was asked and answered in the same way you just did by The OG GM earlier today.

I'm done with DnD. I gave all my 5e books to some mates nephew. It's all going to be woke pablum from now from Hasbro I bet. Bought a bunch of Pathfinder 2e books, Call of Cthulhu, and the new Laundry kickstarter.

Is it DEATHBRINGER?! Please say the next CEO will be DEATHBRINGER!! 😆🪓

Usually when a CEO is fired or quits, the company stock plummets. When Cynthia Williams left, the stock jumped up more than 15% meaning that the shareholders believe, with their wallets, that anyone would do a better job as CEO.

I firmly agree. There is no better person to succeed Williams and take the company exactly where it needs to go than Deathbringer.

I somewhat expected you might go with Stephen Glicker - but that's not me being especially in touch, so much as I think you mentioned it before.

I used to play Arena but their algorithm is messed up. I had built up a ton of points over the course of time to trade in for free cards and made an absolutely killer deck. I made it to the top tier during one cycle, then the next cycle (without any new cards being released) I couldn't win a game to save my life. My opponents ALWAYS got god draws and I would get mana shorted/flooded. Every single game. The next cycle I won about 20% of my games, again with no new cards released. I uninstalled the game and refuse to play ever again. But you could tell that people were spending TONS of money on cards, my opponents had ALL the good cards.

I think the next CEO needs to be Deathbringer.

But what would stop Hasbro from pulling rank on Glicker and railroad things anyways? Then lay the blame with him in the end. Maybe he would be more transparent with the customers and that would keep the balance.

Back after actually watching more of this: Why is Monopoly Go on the list? That’s not a Wizards thing. And BG3 was signed and in development before she was on board, and its success is owed entirely to Larian (I don’t doubt Larian’s decision to drop D&D was motivated by some of her decisions.)

I wish I could be so naive about how capitalism works. They'll pick someone with their in business not games, ultimately it's about pleasing shareholders not customers.

This year is the 50th anniversary of D&D and the release of a new Edition and we’ve heard hardly anything. That’s shocking. WOTC needs someone in charge who is actively promoting D&D and not just relying on others like RU-vidrs, Critical Role, and Stranger Things to promote their product.

I wasn't sure for a while there Prof DM. Four minutes into the video and I had was commercials and an article narration. Then you got down to business and provide some really good insight. Then I though you were off track again, speaking about a unicorn taking over as CEO. But you identified a reasonable candidate and supported your claim. (although I see a large difference in experience between Cynthia Williams and Steven Glicker). Good work sir and thank you for the latest news and insight!

Should be an interesting couple of weeks.

Good picks for a replacement but they should hire Venger Satanis and make a reality show out of it. Would D&D be more profitable under his helm - maybe - but would it get it far weirder and closer to it's roots - absolutely.

I wish them the best (the brand and community). They deserve better.

Williams had pretty good ideas for the company and shareholders honestly. She just shouldn't have spoken ever. Making the next half-edition sans OGL wouldn't be awful (the pushback would still get it reinstated). Making a proprietary VTT that works well on mobile devices would be amazing. And building up license agreements to further cement the IP as the most popular fantasy brand after LotR would be brilliant. She sold all of that abysmally though.

Your WOTC Scandal Song needs a 1 year anniversary update with extra verse from the aftermath of this! Of course, if Deathbringer has a NEW parody song that could be even better!

The last thing C-Suite wants is somebody who knows the property. We live in a country where we have TV executives who don't watch TV, sports commissioners who never played the game, munitions company heads who've never killed somebody, and healthcare execs who probably have.

Will Deathbringer apply for this new job opening? He already wears a suit (of armour) every day, anyway,

Always excited to see you upload!

Not related to the news, but man, I'm really looking forward to the GM screen video... It almost feels like a meta commentary on GMing, "... and this is how you create tension!" 😄

I am Delighted to hear that Cynthia Williams is 'moving on'. While she did do some good things, the OGL disaster and a strong-armed approach to pushing all players to subscriptions has been a disaster. It generated a huge about of ill-will among the fan base. I for one do not intend to by another Hasbro product in my life time. It is a shame they took something so important to many of us and wrecked it like a cheap car.

💯on board with Stephen Glicker as WOTC leader. The commercial at the beginning was as good or better than anything Hasbro does, and I bet Stephen did it himself (along with hiring the voiceover). His biz insights are also spot on.

TSR's downfall was that the inmates were running the asylum. Gary Gygax and his ilk, as genius creatives as they were, didn't have heads for business, and drove TSR into the ground. Cynthia Williams' drawback is that she's not a gamer. They need someone who's both a gamer and a business person. I don't know who that would be, but there has to be some out there. The dude from RFC seems brilliant, but can he run a business? Maybe he should head the creative end of WotC.

I nominate you to take over the new top spot, Professor. If you were CEO of WotC, I'd actually go back to supporting them and buying their products again.

This is freaking me out just a bit. I am sure I saw a Dungeons and Dragons Lego set around 7 or so years ago at a Target. I wish I took a picture of it then, as I can't seem to find anything now when I search online. But I know I saw it years ago.

Nice touch mentioning her successes and not just her failures.

You missed at least one negative. Joe Manganellos Dragonlance show was denied under her watch

I for one am looking forward to the Dungeon Craft DM screen video. 2:05

It's almost cruel how they say it's for 5E and Pathfinder, like, "fully compatible with 5E...and that other one."

Will be interesting to see if we hear whether she jumped or was pushed. Will it change things though? The new version is well along in production, and it's not likely that her successor will rehire those fired in December '24. Interesting analysis, PDM. Look forward to hearing Stephen Glickers' thoughts on the matter, especially your idea WotC should hire HIM to replace Williams!

Um, so after watching the last video, my rolls weren't quite all 20s, but I *did* roll four critical hits in a single round with a single bad guy and killed two PCs (and nearly a third) on Monday. I think I may be doing it wrong. (It's fine, of *all* the places to be killed, they were LITERALLY in the cathedral, watching the body of an NPC associate who'd been murdered and waiting for the NPC cleric to come along in the morning to raise him (and who potentially needed more than one go because he'd been killed by an assassin, so said cleric even had loaded more than one Raise...)

Fantastic news at last!

Great update! Unfortunately, Williams will be referred as the “Kathleen Kennedy “ of WOTC- fans scream and complain about products (like they always have) but they never spend money, never try anything new, and whine about gaming nostalgia- Deathbringer for WOTC president!

BattleZoo looks crazy

I think she wasn't the one to pull out that "d&d go" cash cow Hasbro is dreaming on, and they're hoping the next one will be

Thank you, love all your videos

Books are collecting dust at my favorite hobby store. Owner had many books pushed on him without ordering them. Then bigbox stores offered some of the ssme books heavily discounted.😮 So, yeah, book sales are slowing.

Some of the best news I've heard in a while. The person who fired thousands at Christmas is herself fired. Good. Halfway there. Need Cockscox gone. Love this channel even though youtube makes my comments disappear.

To-be-fair, Hasbro DID try Lego compatible minifigs with their Kre-O line about a decade ago, but the DnD Kreons weren't quite as good as their Transformers Kreons. Kre-O was just never as good as LEGO - the plastic was cheap and the sets were lackluster at best.

A good news for sure, but as Murphy's Law goes on, it may get worse. And, as far as I'm concerned, I'm done with 5e/6e/whatever: I had already stopped buying their products after some subpar manuals came out, waiting for better products, but since the OGL scandal I'm totally done with them. The only D&D products I still buy are old FR manuals (from 1e to 3.5), using them to improve my SWADE Forgotten Realms (core SWADE manual + Fantasy Companion + PSW) campaign.

Great, now I'm humming the crash test dummies in my head all day long. Thank you, I love all the Dungeon Craft videos.

I must say, your analysis and insight has been spot on over years now and I think your influence shouldn't be underestimated. Glicker does indeed feel like a good choice, however has he worked in big corporate businesses like wotc? That is it's own challenge. Another great video. Thank you.

Do you paint models before putting the model on bases?

There seems to be a tiresome belief among corporate higher ups that people in charge don't need to know or appreciate anything about the product. I worked for a corporation in the hospitality industry. They replaced the CEO with someone from a toy retailer. It didn't go well. They put non-technical folks in charge of highly technical departments that were good at "managing people" but they had no idea what kind of equipment was needed for projects, what skill sets were required, or how long development should take. It was disastrous. I predict that Hasbro will do more of the same. Different face but much of the same get rich quick mentality based on metrics and digital content. The "Moneyball" of RPGs.

That Forbes article. Wow, a lie after lie after downplaying facts. Its amazing how she took a super popular franchise and product and turned it into steaming pile of ashes. If anything WOTC should sue her for damages she did to the brand

Hopefully things will settle down over there and they can get back to focusing on making/keeping the D&D game strong and regaining the trust of their community. Looking forward to your DM screen video.

🤔Is it really 'heads rolling' when they get more severance than most people make in a year?

For me the big question is: Will they change their business strategy for D&D or is this just a cosmetic change? I personally don't think that onednd/6e looks like an improvement, and I hear that their new VTT is bad, but WOTC is probably too heavily invested to change direction by now.

To heal the rift will take a herculean effort & corporate america is not up to the task.

To your suggestion, the Roll for Combat channel has gone suspiciously quiet for over a month. That'd happen if they were in discussions. :)

i would like to sign up for the news letter but i cat find it

She would not be resigning if things were going well at WotC. Her resignation just two days after Q1 earnings report is due out tells me the earnings are down. Licensing deals are not going to produce a $1b revenue stream just from D&D. That benchmark for “success” was separated from MTG. D&D lost money on movie, and Hasbro lost a lot on Entertainment One sale. I’m guessing they lost money on D&DBeyond as well, with all of the dropped subscriptions due to OGL. Few bought their latest hardbacks, they are largely crap. Their price points are too high, including for the Lego set. If they promote from within, that will be another loser for them. No one currently there can pull them out of this funk.

Would love to see Stephen (and Mark) take over WOTC! Might actually see a new Golden Age for D&D for real. Just knowing how well Stephen would handle conventions would be amazing to experience!

I love all of Prof. Nerd’s videos! They are so insightful and informative.

My guess is they will promote from the inside (not necessarily on the WotC side, it may come from Hasbro itself). If that falls short, they are going to likely look at CV's that have big names and numbers on them, not look at whether the person actually knows the brand or market. Cynthia Williams should have left long ago. Not that I personally am affected by it, I set aside D&D during the 4e shift. But she should have left much closer to the OGL crisis, which would gave bought back a ton of good will in the company. As is, it is too little, too late for many. Will it drastically impact the company or brand to have lost the amount of fans they did? Probably not. Hasbro's stock market numbers continue to plummet, while WotC continues to keep them afloat. Business as usual, since Hasbro has leaned on WotC for much longer than Williams' tenure, and the TTRPG audience tends to not care as much as they should about the business politics of the brands they consume, or have very short memories...or don't know because they are new fans. WotC and Hasbro are placing their bets on the latter, and are content to let old fans either be indifferent to their politics, or leave. It's callous, but, as I said earlier...business as usual...

I love that this video started with an ad for a sourcebook that allows you to play as a dragon, something PDM would never allow in his games.

Of course the fear is that the 26th is when they'll announce the sale of the D&D brand to Tencent.

If they expand the D&D Lego partnership I am going to be very poor! Love your work Prof.

Great video professor DM.

Wonder if the reason for resigning will be released? I mean fans that have been turned off by recent strategies probably aren’t going to forget..unless someone that actually plays these games takes over.

I cant wait to see you GM screen

There was a whatever it is hasbro calls their Lego knock off brick thing a few years ago. Like all things Hasbro they fumbled it. I didn't even know they existed until the smallest least interesting sets were in clearance bins. This would have been quite some time ago though, as I was looking at them in a Florida Toys R Us.

She didn't understand her customers - a critical mistake for management.

Thanks for the news PDM. I really enjoy all of Dungeon Craft's videos. I suspect from a corporate perspective that Cynthia's missteps were far outweighed by the "positives" she brought to the brand, which you enumerated. WoTC/Hasbro really aren't interested in what a small vocal minority has to say, they're much more focused on bringing their brand to the masses. As to why she left, who can say? Maybe she saw the writing on the wall, or maybe WoTC/Hasbro needed a scapegoat. I am keenly interested who they bring on board. One thing I'd bet money on, it won't be a gamer or any sort of book and dice traditionalist. Steve Jobs talked about how corporations follow the money, and over time the CEOs of tech companies get replaced with more business oriented managers, usually from the sales division. WoTC is in that transition now. It's no longer about game design ("The Tech"), it's about who can generate the most revenue. The next CEO pick will be very revealing.

In many ways Glicker would be a good choice, he certainly has some of the traits necessary in a CEO. I might float another one though... Travis Willingham. Steal him from Critical Role, or merge the companies. It is not going to happen, but think of it.

Personally, I think she’s leaving before Hasbro sinks. and I also think whoever has put in as CEO of wizards of the coast is going to be some person of color who is a DEI higher and they’re just going to make it worse

I would guess that if they bring in anyone as new head of WotC that has a gaming background, it likely won’t be someone related to D&D so much as someone related to MtG…as that is the bigger money maker.

Morgan Ironwolf is the best choice for a replacement.

I'm guessing Hasbro is pissed she soured the Larian relationship.

I love all Dungeon Craft Videos!

#GlickeroftheCoast P.S.: Please note, as big as RfC products are… I do not believe they are advertised as ‘bulletproof’! 😂

do you have list of books to read?

I have a feeling it's going to be a WF tag in situation and have a person she knows.

I find all your info educational and entertaining

"... computer game adaptation of DnD thats both a critical favorite and a massive financial success" Are you kidding me? They had "critical hit" starring them in the face and they went with "critical favorite?!"

If the new CEO wants to Garner any positive attention and positive reaction from fans, the first thing he or she should say is that all drow are evil.

Does this mean we can say "Slavers" again? Or make a platoon of Drow that actually want to kill our PCs instead of write poetry for them? Or can we even have a race named Drow again?

Hoping the new CEO will: 1. Bring back the Open Gaming License! 2. Invest in a new rpg system, card game, or board game. Something original that captures the imagination, like Magic The Gathering in the 90s.

Candidate: I’ll put forward Paul Reiche III into the President mix. Playing D&D table top since the beginning, plus huge history with video gaming (Skylanders, etc.).

I love all Dungeoncraft videos!

Yep. That makes sense to me. Glicker for WotC prez!

Person responsible for losing money and good faith with the customers fired? Good.

This is their opportunity to "turn the table" .. rebrand e reconnect with a eager (to be wooed again) fan base... their should thread very carefully here. Its a once in a corporate life time chance.