Friday, 4 December, 2009

[Morrus]

Layoffs at WotC

• An anonymous source tells me that WotC had it's usual annual pre-Christmas layoffs yesterday - and that Rob Heinsoo, Logan Bonner, and Chris Sims were among the casualties.
  • Update: confirmed here by Chris Sims.
  • Another name to add to the list (from the same source): Stephen Radney-McFarland.
  • Logan Bonner confirms here.
• Who's left? Obviously I don't know even a fraction of those at WotC, but still there (that I've heard of) are: Peter Lee, Matt Sernett, Steve Schubert, Peter Schaefer, Mike Mearls, Bruce Cordell, James Wyatt, Rich Baker and Rodney Thompson.
• Remember that there were plenty of folk at WotC who we don't know were also let go.
• Layoffs in previous years include Jeff Grubb, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Julia Martin, Jim Butler, Chris Pramas, David Noonan, Stan!, Owen Stephens, Linae Foster.
• Monte Cook apparently left of his own volition. Scott "The Rouse" Rouse is no longer with WotC (since a couple of months ago) but he's been silent on the reasons for his departure.
• Chris Pramas on past layoffs: "These things often also hinge on internal politics, who your friends are, and how well you play (or insulate yourself from) the corporate game. And to be clear, I don't have info on this specific round of layoffs. I'm just generalizing based on past history."

New for Subscribers

• SPACE FIGHT! has been completely updated with a major re-organization of the entire book along with plenty of new content such as asteroids, hit locations, revised boarding rules, and much more!
• As part of the process of uploading back-issues of Emerald Press' COMBAT ADVANTAGE series for subscribers, now available is Combat Advantage #4: Heroic Talents: powers available to trained skills and used to substitute utility powers in the heroic tier, giving characters an extra tool for dangers other than monsters and guards. If your campaign makes use of non-combat encounter, these talents can come in handy.
  

RPG Sales Market Share

A game store reports its RPG sales market shares. Click on the pie chart below the quote for the full blog and a larger version of the image.

Dungeons & Dragons still dominates role-playing sales in our store, but there has been a mini revival over the last year, with renewed interest in older games and some great new games, such as Rogue Trader, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and Hero 6. Pathfinder has found its legs too. This has dropped D&D from its startling 75% market share in our store to its less alarming 3.5 levels of around 55%. You lose Mayan calendar!
If this chart looks familiar, it's probably because it's similar to many business charts for mature marketplaces. Mature markets eventually have a leader that takes the kind of unassailable position we see with Dungeons & Dragons. You'll find products like the iPhone, Hewlett Packard printers, Internet Explorer, and Coca Cola with similar positions. They're household names like Dungeons & Dragons. It's a kind of economic natural selection. Celebrate diversity, but accept reality.

D&D 4th Edition News

• Friday Funny One of the weirder monsters from myth and legend is the 4E Carbuncle, a level 3 controller.
• Virtual Combat Cards 1.1 Version 1.1 of Virtual Combat Cards out. Virtual Combat Cards is a Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition combat tracker that runs on any computer and keeps track of all the information so that you, the DM, can focus on making your game more fun for everybody.

Pathfinder News

• News from Paizo:
  • The next stage of Paizo Publishing's Advanced Player's Guide playtest has begun, debuting the new summoner and witch classes. The discussion of these classes is already well underway with impressions, suggestions, and playtest reports rolling in on the Paizo playtest boards.
  • RPG Superstar 2010 starts today (Friday).
  • Pazio Publishing has a new opening in its editorial staff.

D&D 3.5/OGL News

• The Ultimate Showdown? The RPG Examiner finally snaps and decides to try to stat out every character appearing in Lemon Demon's Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, one character a week. This week: Godzilla.