Rumors are starting to swirl....
Anyone heard anything?
5e is coming? ~grins and runs~
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http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/246174-layoffs.html
Notable post:
Here are the names I have confirmed as of a few minutes ago:
Randy Buehler (VP of digital gaming)
Andrew Finch (director of digital games)
Stacy Longstreet (senior art director)
Julia Martin (editor)
William Meyers (creative manager, digital design)
Dave Noonan (game designer)
Jennifer Paige (online community manager)
Jennifer Powers (marketing)
Jonathan Tweet (game designer)-Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo Publishing
That's really terrible news if its accurate.
I'm amazed by some of the names on that list...
I wonder if there are any more.
Wow, sad to hear it.
I'm amazed by some of the names on that list..
Tweet and Noonan?
Yea, that does suck big time.
Man I hate to see anyone be jobless. Just bad
And Merry Xmas to you too, WotC!
And Merry Xmas to you too, WotC!
For a minute there, I could have sworn your post ended, "...Mr. Potter!"
Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty established corporate practice.
I'm amazed by some of the names on that list..Tweet and Noonan?
Those, as well as Longstreet and Martin.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32
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Once more we are reminded of the old adage: "Quit WotC before they can fire you."
I love this company. Put out a "successful" new edition and immediately follow that up by canning a number of workers. Cheers, Wizards! Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah! Kwazy Kwanzaa! Clear out your desks.
Oh well, I guess we know where the next batch of third party publishers will come from.
James inspires more grim humor via film:
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Kiss my @ss. Kiss his @ss. Kiss your @ss. Happy Hanukkah."
@ Pax - I'm with you: I'm thankful Paizo folk are not facing a situation like this. But this thought leads to another: I wonder when Paizo will be ready to add staff again.
Chief Technical Officer
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James inspires more grim humor via film:
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Kiss my @ss. Kiss his @ss. Kiss your @ss. Happy Hanukkah."@ Pax - I'm with you: I'm thankful Paizo folk are not facing a situation like this. But this thought leads to another: I wonder when Paizo will be ready to add staff again.
We have three job openings at the moment. We don't plan to ever get too much bigger than we are now, though.
Sigh. Jonathan gave me my start at WotC, when we convinced him and Peter to hire me, Wolfgang Baur, Tim Beach, and Teeuwynn Woodruff as a package. He's the best game designer I've ever met (and I've met them all), and one of the few true geniuses in Wizards' history. To see that they've decided to go on without him is very disheartening.
Pretty much everybody else on this list is a friend and colleague of mine too. That is no good at all.
Mike
Wow. Super, super suck. A few friends and lots of good folks on that list. I feel real bad for them, especially during this time of year. Though - not to sound too callous - that's a lot of talent suddenly not under WotC's non-compete clauses...
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He's the best game designer I've ever met (and I've met them all), and one of the few true geniuses in Wizards' history. To see that they've decided to go on without him is very disheartening.
I think (entirely subjective content follows) that Tweet's Oriental Adventures was such a brilliant and stunning work that this is a complete crushing blow to me. Best wishes all, folks.
Once more we are reminded of the old adage: "Quit WotC before they can fire you."
Like Selinker before me, that's what I did.
This is really lame, but unfortunately just more of what we've come to expect from a Hasbro run WotC. I owe a personal debt of gratitude to Julia Martin, who for a couple years supplied me with a steady stream of D&D website design jobs when I was just getting started. She was even nice enough to send an adventure map back to the cartographer after I had signed off on it and then changed my mind.... to add snow. An absolute class act, and a wonderful human being. Fortunately she has a lot of skills to fall back on, and I wish her the best of luck finding someplace new to work in this economy.
As for the rest of the list, all good talented people who deserve much better from a company that they have so enriched.
Sigh. Jonathan gave me my start at WotC, when we convinced him and Peter to hire me, Wolfgang Baur, Tim Beach, and Teeuwynn Woodruff as a package. He's the best game designer I've ever met (and I've met them all), and one of the few true geniuses in Wizards' history. To see that they've decided to go on without him is very disheartening.
Agreed, completely. Tweet is one of those guys where you can tell there's more going on in his brain than the average person just by being in his presence for a few seconds. The last of the original 3rd edition designers to be cut loose, I feel like this is a clear case of the company not having a good grasp on the sheer talent under its roof. It makes no sense to me.
Good luck to all affected.
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Damn. That's a big shame.
Noonan wrote Whispers of the Vampire's Blade - my favourite adventure ever (which alot of people seem to dislike). No more products like that... :'(
Good luck to all those on the list in any future prospects! :)
Is it just me or can I see some co-operation in some other 3rd-party products? ;)
Cheers! :D
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Hmm, I feel like those Germans in the Bismark after they sunk the HMS Hood in one shot...."We Could Be Next".
I hope the Paizo ship fairs better in this climate, but this economy is in for a long tough ride. I wonder if I will find myself on the street joining these names with absolutely nowhere to go. It's cut, cut, cut time and not hire for pity sake. If many of us are a house payment away from the streets, how can we afford Paizo?
This does not bode well at all.
Zux
That is very bad news indeed. My heartfelt sympathies for those suddenly in need of a new job, and good luck in finding one soon. The gaming community is poorer for this loss.
I hope that this is "just" the consequence of the general economic downturn, and is nothing specific to WotC or D&D, which would make the bad news even worse.
Stefan
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Absolutely horrible news. There are some names on that list that literally laid the foundations of modern fantasy roleplaying. I hope they all find jobs soon and that their holidays are not overly negatively impacted by these decisions. For all the "success" of 4e, I don't understand why they are in a position to need to trim some of their best talent. Best of luck to all those affected.
Wow. Most sad. I wish I had the unlimited financial resources to hire them all and create my own Omega World-based apocalyptic game 3PP.
My warmest thoughts and hopes for rapid re-employment folks!
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Both of my grandfathers spent their careers pouring liquid steel in Youngstown, OH. I am reminded of a story one of them told me about layoffs at the mill.
The big bosses gave this one manager the unpleasant task of walking around the mill Friday afternoon handing out the layoff slips, which were distinctive yellow sheets of paper, so every steelworker who saw him knew what he was about. When he finally finished, heart heavy, he walked back to his tiny, cluttered office to find his own yellow slip on his desk.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32
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I wonder if the layoffs are due to 4E not doing as well as they say it is, or just your typical cold-hearted corporate greed.
Well, it doesn't HAVE to be either or. I'd suspect greed first, though, since they seem to do this in cycles. New edition...LAYOFFS...new edition...LAYOFFS...
How many hands does Wizards have to bite before we stop feeding them?
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Damn. That's a big shame.
Noonan wrote Whispers of the Vampire's Blade - my favourite adventure ever (which alot of people seem to dislike). No more products like that... :'(
I love Whispers of the Vampires Blade! It was a great introduction to the Ebberron setting.
I know what it feels like to be laid off just in time for the holidays. I lost my job last year on November 15. I decided to go back to school and turn it into a positive change.
I've also been in the position, as a supervisor, of having to decide who gets laid off, and having to lead them to HR for the "Last Walk". It sucks on both sides. A lot of companies do staff cuts at this time to get the payroll down before the end of the fourth quarter. It helps the execs show the board of directors and the shareholders that they are taking decisive action to reduce costs. It is hard and cold, but it seems to be a standard practice in modern business.
I wonder if the layoffs are due to 4E not doing as well as they say it is, or just your typical cold-hearted corporate greed.Well, it doesn't HAVE to be either or. I'd suspect greed first, though, since they seem to do this in cycles. New edition...LAYOFFS...new edition...LAYOFFS...
How many hands does Wizards have to bite before we stop feeding them?
Since this is the repeat of a cycle, I figure that some bean-counters at WotC figure they need more hands at the lead-up to release for all the design work, but less afterward for on-going support. That may be true.
But I have to wonder about laying off the extra talent right before the holidays rather than some opportune time shortly after release, or telegraphing the reductions and giving employees a chance to find other work. Layoffs just before the most depressing time of the year (for a lot of people thanks to both holidays and shorter days) always seem like the extra kick in the balls to me.
Wow, this is really sad. Not only for the people who were laid off, but for anyone who is still following 4th ed. Oh well, all that you can really do is look for a silver lining... maybe we'll get to see a new edition of Over The Edge from Tweet? ::Drools a little::
There is no good time to get news like this, but WotC's timing for this is truly abysmal. It's shameful...
My hopes and well-wishes go out to these folks and their families. May fortune fly on swift wings to bring them better days.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Ahh, those people were a bunch of old schoolers anyway....
I wonder if the layoffs are due to 4E not doing as well as they say it is, or just your typical cold-hearted corporate greed.Well, it doesn't HAVE to be either or. I'd suspect greed first, though, since they seem to do this in cycles. New edition...LAYOFFS...new edition...LAYOFFS...
How many hands does Wizards have to bite before we stop feeding them?
Why would corporate greed lead you to fire people who are satisfying that greed by making you money? Most likely, it's the need to have extra people on hand to launch a new edition. Once the edition is launched, you have extra hands and nothing valuable for them to do. It's sad just the same, and I hope these folks find work soon.
Sad news, but all too common this time of the year.
Surprising though that a few are digital-based. Wonder what that says about the electronic/online gaming 'future' at WoTC?
Why would corporate greed lead you to fire people who are satisfying that greed by making you money? Most likely, it's the need to have extra people on hand to launch a new edition. Once the edition is launched, you have extra hands and nothing valuable for them to do.
I don't think its a matter of anyone sitting on their hands not producing. Its that the bottom line says that its cheaper to hire freelancers to write supplements or parts of supplements than to have a fully paid staffer do it.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Once more we are reminded of the old adage: "Quit WotC before they can fire you."Like Selinker before me, that's what I did.
This is really lame, but unfortunately just more of what we've come to expect from a Hasbro run WotC. I owe a personal debt of gratitude to Julia Martin, who for a couple years supplied me with a steady stream of D&D website design jobs when I was just getting started. She was even nice enough to send an adventure map back to the cartographer after I had signed off on it and then changed my mind.... to add snow. An absolute class act, and a wonderful human being. Fortunately she has a lot of skills to fall back on, and I wish her the best of luck finding someplace new to work in this economy.
Same with me.
We had some mutual friends who gamed in my campaign and in hers, and one of these friends said he had been talking up my game and had a potential new player: Julia Martin. I said, "you mean THE Julia Martin?" in an email and she said she got a tickle out of reading it. She played in two of my campaigns of the course of several years, and I played in two that she DMed and another one where we were both players with another DM.
After we had been gaming a while, she asked me if I would liek to write something for the website called "DM University" or "DMing 101" and I said sure, that sounded like fun. After I wrote up the first few installments, she asked when I wanted to sign the contracts to get paid.
I was like, "Paid? I thought you just wanted me to do it as a favor! Umm, sure, getting paid would be cool!"
And thus was born Behind the Screen, and then Save My Game and a scattering of other columns. She even put me in touch with Jesse Decker, then working on Dragon, about an article idea I had (well, a number of ideas, most of which got bounced but one or two got in).
Anyway, point being she was also for me the person who helped me transition from "enthusiastic hobbyist" to "enthusiastic hobbyist and freelancer," so big ups to her for being somebody who was willing and able to give a little push here and there to get people involved in the work of the game.
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as someone pointed that is usual corporative policy
cold and emotionless...
if i needed any more reasons to keep away from 4E (which i don't) this would be it. Why be a loyal customer for a hald cold corporation ready to betray some of its best people?
my best wishes to all this people, and hope they are on their feet soon enough
as the Starks say... "Winter is Coming"
Sad news, but all too common this time of the year.
Surprising though that a few are digital-based. Wonder what that says about the electronic/online gaming 'future' at WoTC?
i read it was not going well
which was what attracted a couple of friends...|
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Re: DDI
i read it was not going well
DDI was originally supposed to go live around the time of Gen Con in August. At this point all they have live is the online Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and the D&D Compendium (which is, in my professional web application UI designer opinion, craptastic -- I could hock a loogy and spit out a better web UI).
The meaty online gaming bits -- the character builder, the character visualizer, and the online gaming table -- are still in closed beta. Or not even.
Oh, and their entire site seems to be offline right now... ;-)
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DDI was originally supposed to go live around the time of Gen Con in August. At this point all they have live is the online Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and the D&D Compendium (which is, in my professional web application UI designer opinion, craptastic -- I could hock a loogy and spit out a better web UI).
As a note, WotC is still looking for a Web UI Designer. They have been for several months. (The current posting says 11/5, but it replaced another one that had been around longer.
They were also looking for a bunch of technical positions that they finally filled through November, including pretty much an entire staff up to project manager.(I have been tracking their job board since around July. Really fascinating comparing the announcements to the jobs posted and filled.)
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Interesting comment from Monte Cook over on the EnWorld forum ...
"While I appreciate the good intent, I'm not sure how one might credit layoffs with the creation of Malhavoc Press. Neither Sue nor I were laid off, nor was our first major freelancer (Bruce Cordell). I suppose later on we used the talents of Sean Reynolds and Skip Williams, but we'd been around for a while at that point. I suppose you could say that some of the layoffs were indicative of the kinds of large changes that occurred at WotC which convinced me it was no longer a place I wanted to work at.
Not that I have any illusions about what would have happened had I stayed. I've no doubt that I would have been laid off. From a larger perspective than just yesterday, it's become clear that WotC's become a company that not only doesn't value experience, it avoids it. (And looks at least somewhat disdainfully, rather than fondly, upon its own past.) You have to stretch your definition of "old guard" to even apply to anyone there anymore. (This is likely a bottom line issue, since the longer you stay, the more you get paid.) When I was there, I worked among people like Skip Williams and Jeff Grubb--with that kind of perspective at hand, I was always the new guy. Which was fine by me. I had much to learn and always appreciated the perspective they could provide. Now, most of the people working on D&D weren't even there when I was there. That's how much turnover and change there's been. There's a real danger of losing continuity with these kinds of layoffs. Dangers involving making old mistakes and not remembering what was learned in old lessons.
It's a foolish and shortsighted management that lets people like Jonathan, Julia, and Dave go. Foolish. And a cold-hearted one that does it at Christmas. But this is not new outrage, it's old, tired outrage. This is the company that laid off Skip, and Jeff, and Sean, and other people of extraordinary talent and experience. It's par for the recent course.
Before I end this bitter ramble, let me just add that it's hard not to laugh at the shocking and perhaps pitiable ineptitude of a company that makes role playing games that would lay off Jonathan Tweet, very likely the best rpg designer, well, period.
I wish all of them the best, and have not a shred of doubt that they'll all go on to do bigger and better things."
__________________
Monte Cook
montecook.com
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Most big corporations could afford to employ everyone for a year on the CEOs bonus...but those people are addicted to the green...
Sorry those guys got laid-off...I've been laid-off once this year already and it's getting tight at my new job, they already let 2 other people go, since I outworked/out thought them...