Then comes the final test.
Players are grouped into teams and named co-CEOs of companies armed with existing Hasbro brands. Each round represents a year in business. As the game progresses, the decisions grow more complex—and the consequences more severe. Players must decide when to hire, where to invest, and how to scale operations, all while balancing sales, supply chain constraints, and human resources.
“As a company built on play, it makes sense for us to use a strategy game to develop future leaders,” Brian Baker, Hasbro’s senior vice president of board games, Play-Doh, and Nerf told Fortune. “Toy Tycoon helps our rising talent think like owners, work across teams, and build confidence making decisions, all while staying true to who we are as a company.”
“I think the job of a CEO is very similar to a grand strategy game,” Cocks added to The Wall Street Journal. “Moving pieces on a complex game board has a lot of dynamism around it, and that’s partially why I like it.”
Cocks isn’t alone in viewing games as more than entertainment. A growing number of business leaders argue that games can sharpen strategic thinking, risk assessment, and collaboration—skills that translate directly from the game board to the boardroom.
At the time, Musk said his favorite game was The Battle of Polytopia, a multiplayer strategy title from which he distilled two guiding principles: “do not fear losing” and “play life like a game.”
