Leah Hoyer‘s new gig leading a kid-focused initiative at Wizards of the Coast has been a “dream come true.”
“In many ways, this feels like the position my entire career has been leading up to,” she said. “It feels like a chance to inspire a lifetime love of games in a new generation of players. Getting to help shape the way we do that is a real dream come true.”
Hoyer is a game and entertainment industry vet who was recently named VP of Creative for the new Wizards Kids Studio. Her resume includes stints at Disney, Microsoft, ArenaNet, Telltale Games, Bungie, and most recently at Seattle mobile development studio Level Headed Games as CEO and founder.
Renton, Wash.-based Wizards of the Coast develops two of the most popular games in geek culture. Dungeons and Dragons has dominated the role-playing game market since 1974 and Magic: The Gathering has similar fame in the collectible card game genre.
While both can be enjoyed by kids, they aren’t the target demographic. That’s why Wizards of the Coast recently launched a new studio aimed to design new projects targeted directly at kids.
Hoyer and Wizards of the Coast veteran Elaine Chase are the only two team members at the studio. Hoyer said her position will be “lots of ideation” for the first year.
“We need to find that special idea that we think will have the impact we hope for,” she said. “We have some starting points, but we are really early in this process.”
Creative storytelling has been the focus of Hoyer’s career. She spent eight years at Disney overseeing the creation and production of kids’ television programming including popular shows Kim Possible and Phineas and Ferb. An experience working on an interactive attraction at the Epcot Center sparked her interest in games.
“That project made something click for me,” she said. “I realized that, while I loved being part of telling stories to kids, the idea that I could craft a story with a player was amazing.”
Hoyer made the switch to the video game industry in 2012 where she jumped into a publishing role at Microsoft that allowed her to see multiple aspects of games come together. In that position, she worked on a wide variety of projects with some of the industry’s biggest studios such as Insomniac Games and Remedy Entertainment.
Since then, she’s worked at Seattle area studios Bungie and ArenaNet. Hoyer also spent two years as the VP of Creative for Telltale Games, an experience she considers one of the highlights of her career, especially working on Batman: The Enemy Within.
“The passion at [Telltale] was incredible,” she said. “The games, while not always easy to make, were crafted so well. That game studio believed in the power of storytelling at its core, and the characters and story moments really shone because of it.”
Hoyer hopes she can help to achieve the same type of passion at Wizards Kids Studio and build a diverse culture from day one. It’s a goal that’s not a surprise as Hoyer has been a champion for increasing diversity in the video game industry. She’s encouraged by the progress that’s been made in that area, but said there’s still a ways to go.
“I’ve often been the only woman in leadership team meetings at studios,” she said. “That is less common these days, though, which is a good sign.”
Hoyer said Wizards Kids Studio will build its team slowly and carefully, only planning to have a small team at first. “The team is the number one priority. Having great teammates around you is the only way to get it all done,” she said.
While the Wizards Kids Studio is in its very early stages, Wizards of the Coast continues to expand upon its core properties. More than 20 Dungeons and Dragons products were released in 2020, including standalone adventures, expansions, and even a comic book crossover with Stranger Things. Meanwhile, Magic: The Gathering saw the release of three physical expansions this year as well as continual updates to MTG Arena, the online version of the game.
