Hasbro CEO on Exodus And Warlock Releases Planned For 2027

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, was featured in the most recent episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast, and talked about the upcoming release of Exodus and Warlock.

Cocks said that he is quite bullish on the upcoming sci-fi action RPG Exodus. Developed by Archetype Entertainment by several former BioWare employees. He confirmed that the plan is still to launch in the first half of 2027, which matches the press release from The Game Awards 2025. Warlock, which was announced recently, an open world action/adventure set in the Dungeons & Dragons world, is set to release later in 2027 as well.

The team on Exodus has been working on it since 2019. Our goal is to ship it in the first half of next year. I think it looks pretty good based on what I’ve played of it. I’m pretty bullish on it. And then we’ll be pairing that with another game called Warlock later in the year from a team up in Montreal. So I think we won’t just have Exodus, we’ll have Warlock, and we’ll have this fantastic stable of digital games. And so, as I said, any individual game has probably less than a 50 percent chance of being in the money, but when you hit, it hits well. And our perspective is that this is one of those businesses.

For now, Cocks is saying the right things, as he went on to say that even if the release is not what he hopes, the team will still look to build up the game’s community.

As I referenced earlier, we don’t think digital games are just a flash in the pan market. We’re going to be patient, we’re going to invest, and if we lose money in the short term, we’re going to build up our community, build up our capacity, and build up our ability to be able to execute with excellence. And I think over time, it’s going to be a difference maker for us and something that we’re happy we invested in.

The Hasbro CEO also discussed the problems facing the games' industry, mentioning that partnering with studios in areas like Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia to reduce costs, but does believe that someone will discover how to use AI in a “high-qualty” way to make games better and more fun.

I think you have to think about things differently, I think you have to think about like, “Hey, when you make a game, are you always going to go to San Francisco or Austin, Texas to recruit that team, or are you going to go to these fantastic areas of talent in Southeast Asia, or China, or Eastern Europe and pair them with the team who really understands the market in question?” I think a lot of gamers don’t like AI in games today, but I think eventually, someone’s going to figure out how to use AI in a way that’s high quality and is fun and makes games better. So I also think you have to think through that.

Cocks did clarify that Hasbro is not currently using any AI in their pipelines for games like Exodus or Warlock.

What do you think of Cocks assessment of the industry? Are you excited for Exodus or Warlock? Let us know in the comments and come hang out in the GamerzTheory Discord.