Hasbro announced on Thursday that it was appointing John Hight as the new president of Wizards of the Cyoast, making him the new executive overseeing Dungeons & Dragons. Hight is a veteran of Blizzard Entertainment, and was involved in the development of. The former Blizzard exec left his role at Blizzard on June 13th before joining as president.
“I admire [John Hight] ’s career focus on fostering community. He is a true embodiment of our mission to bring people together through play,” said Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks in a press statement. “John’s love of D&D and Magic: The Gathering, combined with his leadership in video games, will be crucial as we expand our digital offerings to deliver what our fans crave.”
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John Hight served as executive producer and VP of World of Warcraft from 2011 to 2021 before being promoted to general manager of the Warcraft franchise in Nov. 2021. There, he oversaw the various media properties that the Warcraft franchise includes, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble. He was also GM during WoW: Dragonflight, Executive producer during Shadowlands and Production Director during Legion and Battle for Azeroth. He previously served as a director of product development at Sony and executive producer at Atari before then.
What does John Hight mean for Dungeons and Dragons?
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Hight comes from a background of video game development, making his appointment an unsurprising decision. Wizards has multiple video game studios and is always working to bring that experience to the forefront. The digital parts of D&D remain some of the most forward-facing content in the market.
I’m a hardcore fan of Blizzard Entertainment’s games, so part of me is hopeful that Hight can bring some of that energy to Wizards of the Coast. Blizzard’s relationship with fans has been mixed, particularly in light of the sexual misconduct allegations from years ago as well as the company’s unending efforts to nickel-and-dime players through loot boxes and microtransactions. At the same time, the company is gifted at game development and developing a long-term fanbase. There’s a reason I still give them $15 a month to play a 20-year-old MMORPG.
John Hight’s presence comes at a time that Wizards is trying to build their own VTT and to release new content for D&D in new ways.
John Hight and AI
One question that I do believe matters is Hight’s view on AI. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks proposed mining old MTG and D&D content in a March 2024 interview, a decision that has led some fans to worry about whether the publisher would cut out writers and artists from future content by generating it with AI.
Hight appears more conservative about the technology’s usage. The ex-franchise director stated in an April 2024 interview that while machine learning was used to help operate NPCs and fit armor to character models, the company’s use of generative AI was limited at best.
“I am the son of an aeronautical engineer and a fine artist,” Hight told IGN. “My mom was the aeronautical engineer and my dad was a fine artist…So I have that appreciation for the creative process, what an artist goes through in their imagination. I think the artists on the team have a fear that the AI will be deployed to take them out of a job and they certainly don’t want their work to be used without their permission or without credit or whatever else, and so I think we’re all sorting that out. The rights issues, the how far do we use this technology, but we’re not using it. We’re not using generative AI within WoW.”
Hight’s Predecessor
The former Blizzard executive will be stepping in to replace Cynthia Williams, who stepped down from her role as president in April. Williams joined the company in 2022 as a replacement for Cocks, who went on to take over as Hasbro CEO. She helped manage D&D, MTG as well as other Hasbro board game properties. She assisted in helping implement Cocks’ Blueprint 2.0 strategy, which helped narrow Hasbro’s focus on licensing its most profitable brands and shifting toward digital products. Williams went on to become CEO of Funko in May.
Williams’ role was tumultuous at times. She oversaw Wizards after Hasbro laid off 1,100 workers, as well as the OGL fiasco of 2023. She was also present at the company when Hasbro saw its stock decline.
There are a lot of questions that fans and critics will want to ask Hight about his vision for the company and what D&D and MTG will look like under his leadership. In the meantime, we’ll watch and wait with the hope that Hight can step up and help the company move into its next era.
Images via Wizards of the Coast
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