Hasbro’s CEO Just Took Direct Control of Magic and D&D

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has taken direct oversight of Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, following the departure of Wizards president John Hight.

Hight’s departure was first disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on July 27, less than a week after Hasbro’s most recent earnings call. The filing said Hight would step down as president of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming, effective Sept. 1 and then serve in an advisory capacity for one year after that.

Sept. 1 has now arrived, but Hasbro has not announced Hight’s successor or publicly identified an interim president. So what happens to Magic, D&D, and Wizards of the Coast's video game portfolio in the meantime?

Image: Wizards of the Coast

A Hasbro representative confirmed to Polygon that Wizards’ existing leadership team will report directly to Cocks while the company searches for its next president.

“On an interim basis, the Wizards leadership team will report directly to CEO Chris Cocks,” the representative said.

Hasbro confirmed in a public statement back in July that it had begun conducting an internal and external search for Hight’s replacement, but the aforementioned representative told Polygon, "We don't have a specific timeline to share today."

“We’re committed to a thorough search process and will provide updates as we have them,” the representative added.

Hasbro initially announced Hight’s departure in July by emphasizing the continued financial and operational strength of Wizards. The company said Magic and D&D “continue to perform incredibly well” and maintained that its two major video game releases planned for 2027, Exodus and Warlock, remain on track.

Image: Invoke Studios/Wizards of the Coast

Hight offered a more personal explanation in a LinkedIn post after the filing became public. He said he was “not disappearing” or retiring, but wanted to create more room for teaching, creative projects, and spending time playing, thinking about, and potentially making games. He also praised the people who will continue leading Wizards in his absence.

“None of it happens because of one person,” Hight wrote. “It happens because of extraordinarily talented people who pour their creativity, expertise, and passion into these games every day.”

That existing leadership includes several executives responsible for Wizards’ most important properties. Earlier this year, Hight announced the promotions of Rebecca Shepard to senior vice president and global play lead for Studio X, Wizards’ internal Magic organization, and Aaron Forsythe to senior vice president of Magic design and creative.

Shepard’s position involves overseeing how players experience Magic across its different forms, while Forsythe guides the game’s broader design, creative direction, and product innovation. Longtime head designer Mark Rosewater works within that larger creative structure.

Dungeons & Dragons continues to be led by Dan Ayoub. He was previously the senior vice president of digital games at Hasbro before taking over as head of the D&D franchise in July 2025. He has described a consolidated model in which the franchise’s books, video games, film, television, and other projects operate under one organization. That strategy has also included incorporating crossover properties into D&D, echoing Magic’s lucrative Universes Beyond structure. The very first, a World of Warcraft crossover, will be released this November.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Wizards has not clarified exactly which individual executives are included in the leadership team now reporting directly to Cocks. But the new temporary arrangement places the organizations responsible for Magic, D&D, and Wizards’ digital games directly beneath Hasbro’s chief executive rather than another interim Wizards president.

Cocks himself served as president of Wizards from 2016 until becoming Hasbro CEO in 2022, overseeing a period of enormous growth for Magic. More recently, he has remained closely involved in shaping the company’s gaming strategy, consistently praising Magic in particular as a major revenue driver for the company.

During Hasbro’s July 21 earnings call, Cocks personally presented the company’s reassessment of its digital gaming portfolio, including the cancellation of several games planned for 2028 and beyond, a $56 million write-down, and a revised strategy organized around what he called “focus, cost discipline, ownable platforms and partnership.”

Cocks said Hasbro would concentrate its digital investments on trading card games and role-playing games, particularly Magic, D&D, Arena, and D&D Beyond, while relying more heavily on development and publishing partners. Six days later, Hasbro entered into its transition agreement with Hight.

Cocks assumes direct oversight as Wizards continues expanding several of its most important initiatives. Last week, Hasbro posted three senior openings for a dedicated D&D Universes Beyond team, including a principal game designer tasked with helping define “the next generation of Dungeons & Dragons play.” The listings describe new collaboration experiences, formats, and audiences extending beyond the World of Warcraft and Star Wars products Wizards has already announced.

In a March interview with The Verge, Cocks described games as one of Hasbro’s three principal business lanes, “really anchored by Wizards of the Coast.” He explained that Magic and D&D operate within a hybrid structure that draws upon Hasbro’s digital, entertainment, and licensing divisions. When asked who settles competing priorities across those divisions, Cocks gave a succinct answer: “Usually, it’s me.”

With no Wizards president currently standing between Cocks and the company’s senior leadership, that statement is now more true than ever before.