WotC Layoffs

[ephealy]

WotC let go a chunk of employees today. Among them, some of their top
designers. Thought you guys might like to know.

[Brett Abbott]

That's a real bummer. With the shut down of Whizkids I thought we were
seeing the downside of a non-hobby company owning a niche hobby
business. I suspect this is more of the same. You give away a lot when
you sell a hobby company to a Topps or a Hasbro, they just don't have
the same mindset that a hobby minded owner has.

Brett

[Questing GM]

Where did you get the news from? Any names?

[Dave Chalker]

I'm seeing the same rumor making the rounds- one source cited is an employee's Facebook status.

No names that I've found yet. WotC, even pre-Hasbro, is notorious for doing pretty regular layoffs, but I had thought that once this year would be enough. Also, as I know personally, they're hiring a new RPG designer... which makes it even more shady that they'd let some experienced designers go.

--
davechalker.com | critical-hits.com | rpgbloggers.com

[Ed Healy]

None of these are confirmed, but this is the list I have so far:

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)

The cat is out of the bag, so to speak, so I expect WotC will give a
public confirmation soon.

--
Ed Healy
Marketing Adviser

Office. (206) 792-9910
Mobile. (253) 777-2822

[Questing GM]

Randy Buehler, Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet!?!! This is an outrage!

[Jay Steven Anyong]

That's a scary list.  But it's still all hearsay right? unless these guys actually go out and tell the public about it.

[Dave Chalker]

No kidding- that's now two people I interviewed at GenCon who have since been laid off. And Dave Noonan was one of the guys involved in the WotC podcast, right? Seems like some pretty public faces to lay off.

--
davechalker.com | critical-hits.com | rpgbloggers.com

[The Tome - Jeff Greiner]

If cuts had to come then some of these names are not a huge surprise to me based on what I've seen from following the industry. Some of them are a big surprise. And there are some names that (again, if it had to come to this) I would add to the list to replace some others.

Jeff Greiner
The Tome Host!


The Tome is a D&D Show 
http://www.thetomeshow.com

[Trask, the Last Tyromancer]

Assuming this is all true, it is interesting that the job titles lead me
to a single conclusion as to why the majority of this group is getting
the ax.

Gleemax

Trent
www.livingdice.com

Dave Chalker wrote:
> No kidding- that's now two people I interviewed at GenCon who have
> since been laid off. And Dave Noonan was one of the guys involved in
> the WotC podcast, right? Seems like some pretty public faces to lay off.
>
> --

> davechalker.com <http://davechalker.com> | critical-hits.com
> <http://critical-hits.com> | rpgbloggers.com <http://rpgbloggers.com>

>
>
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 9:13 PM, Questing GM <quest...@gmail.com
> <mailto:quest...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Randy Buehler, Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet!?!! This is an outrage!
>
> On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Ed Healy <eph...@ephealy.com
> <mailto:eph...@ephealy.com>> wrote:
>
>
> None of these are confirmed, but this is the list I have so far:
>
> 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)
>
> The cat is out of the bag, so to speak, so I expect WotC will
> give a
> public confirmation soon.
>
>
>
> Questing GM wrote:
> > Where did you get the news from? Any names?
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 9:26 AM, Brett Abbott
> <brett....@gmail.com <mailto:brett....@gmail.com>

> > <mailto:brett....@gmail.com

> <mailto:brett....@gmail.com>>> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That's a real bummer. With the shut down of Whizkids I
> thought we were
> > seeing the downside of a non-hobby company owning a
> niche hobby
> > business. I suspect this is more of the same. You give
> away a lot when
> > you sell a hobby company to a Topps or a Hasbro, they
> just don't have
> > the same mindset that a hobby minded owner has.
> >
> > Brett
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:22 PM, ephealy
> <eph...@ephealy.com <mailto:eph...@ephealy.com>

> > <mailto:eph...@ephealy.com

[Questing GM]

Again, the axed not one but TWO faces for the company, this time.

[David A. Miller]

Can you give us any indication as to the source of your information? Is
there any way for me to confirm so I can post on our news site?

[Dave Chalker]

This is where I saw a post matching Ed's list:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/246174-layoffs.html#post4572940

--
davechalker.com | critical-hits.com | rpgbloggers.com

[Questing GM]

I'll post this on my site too but I'll wait till there's more solid evidence of the names of the ones being laid off. Don't want to spread wrong rumors.

[Questing GM]

Do you think that WoTC will make a public announcement?

[Ed Healy]

Lisa Stevens, Paizo CEO, just posted publicly on EN World about it.

You can find her contact info on Paizo.com, if you want to ask her to
give you her sources.

- Ed

[Trask, the Last Tyromancer]

Link?

Trent

[Ed Healy]

Topic #1 on the EN World forums:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/246174-layoffs.html

[Trask, the Last Tyromancer]

Some of the names on this list are quite notable in the D&D world. I
might even break my "no WOTC" rule for this event.

Trent
www.livingdice.com

[David A. Miller]

Thanks for the links Dave & Ed. That's enough confirmation for me.

While I certainly understand a company's concern for its profitability, what
strikes me about this is that it still seems a little soon after the launch
of 4e. Here are some people who helped put out a successful new product. I
can't imagine this inspires much dedication in the remaining staff, or in
potential new employees they'll need the next time they've got a big
project. No, there are not many up-front-paying opportunities in RPG
publishing, but how do they expect to convince someone to work through a
tough project, or to relocate and accept a moderate salary, when they know
they won't be around long enough to enjoy the benefits or rewards of their
work?

[MadBrew]

What an f'ing lousy time to lay someone off... weeks before Christmas.

[Graham Poole]

True, MadBrew...

Though I think before christmas is a better time than after christmas, when everyone has gone into debt thinking they will have a job where they can earn it back afterwards.

Graham

[MadBrew]

Well if they have wives (or are like, in the case of the women) like
mine, they've already gone into debt for the holiday season! My bank
account has yet to recover from Black Friday.

[Graham Poole]

True, though you can return stuff all the way up to when you give it to the recipient.

Also, I'm speaking from a Canadian perspective, where Black Friday is known as, well, Friday. :-P

Graham

[Zachary Houghton]

Its a bummer. Looks like the DDI/Gleemax crew is getting swept out as
well.

On Dec 3, 1:05 am, "Graham Poole" <ve4...@gmail.com> wrote:
> True, though you can return stuff all the way up to when you give it to the
> recipient.
>
> Also, I'm speaking from a Canadian perspective, where Black Friday is known
> as, well, Friday. :-P
>
> Graham
>

[Jonathan Jacobs]

I would guess that D&D Insider has not been as much of a success as they thought it would be?
..........
Jonathan Jacobs, Ph.D.
lab: (301) 402-1155
cell: (240) 447-4039

[Questing GM]

But what would removing Randy Buehler do? Stop DDI at its tracks?

[Philippe-Antoine Menard]

That really sucks and it seems to mirror what happened after the release of 3e.

I have a feeling that after the character builder and possibly the compendium, WotC will scuttle everything else.

Phil

[Danny Rupp]

Phil:  I certainly hope not!  I don't know if you got to play with the DM tools at GenCon, but if that never sees the light of day I will be extremely disappointed.

Danny
--
http://www.Critical-Hits.com/
Your source for boardgames, cardgames, rpgs, video games, comics, and all the latest nerdy news.

[MadBrew]

I played with the demo tools at GenCon, but was more impressed with
the machines they were running on... HP Blackbirds mmmm.

[Danny Rupp]

We took a picture of the one demo set up for D&D Insider which was displayed through a Mac, we found it pretty funny.  :)

Danny
--
http://www.Critical-Hits.com/
Your source for boardgames, cardgames, rpgs, video games, comics, and all the latest nerdy news.

[Questing GM]

There is news about the layoff and WoTC's statement to it over at ICv2.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13847.html

 

I've already blogged about it.