layoffs?

deadsmurf · Dec 4, 2008

seankreynolds said:
And 93.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Where is your proof of the number you cite? There are many people who DO buy books based on the author's name. Just because you aren't one of them, or you don't have anyone in your gaming group, doesn't mean that you are an example of an overwhelming majority

Unfortunately only a small percentage of any consumer looks at the people behind the scenes for making <product> At a certain point people begin not so much looking at the stars in a movie and look at directors and writers. People stop looking at the president as the face of a faceless government and start paying close attention to congresspersons and senators and their staffers. They don't just look for the Masthead of their favourite fantasy shared world (ie Dragonlance) and only read the ones by Tracy & Hickman or Jeff Grubb. You're not just reading Wolverine for the character but you want to read the arc written by Jeph Loeb.

It's the same in any business or media. The vast majority of people will just look at the surface, and the people who are genuinely interested (and these are the people who ususally end up working in the field)

I don't know where I am going with this, but I am really sorry to hear about all this, Tweet and Noonan were both great designers... it's a loss for all D&D players.
At least Buehler will be able to use his permanent invite to the Magic pro-tour now, so at least a small upside there.

I'm not that familiar with the others other than some vague recognition of the names, and I feel bad for you all of you. Good luck and try to have a good christmas despite all this.

ShinHakkaider · Dec 4, 2008

Piratecat said:
Major layoffs during the 3e era created some award-winning game companies: Green Ronin, Malhavoc Games, and quite a few more. I can only hope that layoffs during the 4e era do the same.

With the GSL being the way it is? Unlikely.

Darrin Drader · Dec 4, 2008

ShinHakkaider said:
With the GSL being the way it is? Unlikely.

Who said they have to design for 4th edition?

Scholar & Brutalman · Dec 4, 2008

Kid Charlemagne said:
On the other hand, anyone who signed on with WoTC for the 4E ramp up had to realize that fewer people were going to be needed after the launch, and planned accordingly.

Tweet was there a long time before that!

But I agree though: anyone who's signed on with WotC since, say, 2001, has to be aware that their business model defines "permanent employment" as "4 to 10 years."

And my sympathies for all those made redundant. The "just before Christmas" technique always seems particularly cruel, though I doubt it's any more fun at any other time.

gribble · Dec 4, 2008

Kid Charlemagne said:
On the other hand, anyone who signed on with WoTC for the 4E ramp up had to realize that fewer people were going to be needed after the launch, and planned accordingly.

Not necessarily. With all the secrecy around 4e, a prospective employee my not have known about the ramp up until after the hiring process. And even if they did, as I said previously, when you're offered a permanent position the expectation is that it's permanent and that you'll have until until you're not longer capable or willing to do the job. At least that's what I'd expect, barring an unforseen disaster and I certainly wouldn't join a company with the expectation that the company wouldn't do well and the position I'm being hired for would be obselete or redundant in the short-medium term

I'd assume that in a well run company any temporary ramp up would be met by contractors and/or freelancers, or at the very least that the position would be described to me as only being temporary or with a limited shelf life.
IMO, companies should be hiring permanent employees when they're trending or forecasting permanent growth. Not when they need to meet short-term project-based needs.

Herremann the Wise · Dec 4, 2008

seankreynolds said:
It depends on what you mean by "have to."

If your RPG division expected to make $10,000,000 dollars this year, and it now looks like it's "only" going to make $8,000,000 dollars this year, does that mean you "have to" lay off people so your numbers are better?

I think this a very salient point. A company we're dealing with at the moment in the window furnishing industry is going through this exact same process (as I'm sure many are at the moment). It is all about meeting targets for them and with the worldwide economic downturn, everyone's doing their best to "look good". [How good it actually looks depends very much upon which side of the fence one is sitting]

However, I'll ask again now that I've seen a few responses and respected points of view: "what does this mean"?

The following analogy may be disturbingly appropriate. In Australia here where most farmers have to regularly deal with significant drought issues, the culling of some of your cattle is unfortuantely necessary. However, in this process a farmer will never touch their breeding stock unless they absolutely have to. Have WotC cut into their "breeding stock" in their thinning of the herd? I can't help but feel that they have (but that is very much from a fan-based but ultimately uninformed point of view).

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

justanobody · Dec 4, 2008

Hogwash!

How does firing people help to focus more "internal resources" on anything? Less money? Oh well fire the people that cost the most to employ of course is always the answer. Not!

Dave make your podcasts yourself, and Solice start your own :rant:

forums!

I mean PHBII isn't even finished yet so who will finish the druid now if not Dave?

WotC gets coal for Christmas!

I don't think the recession is all to blame for this, nor do I think the new edition cycle of layoffs is right. Jesper Myrfors still works on cards but not Magic cards, maybe you guys could find that Bella Sera card game and work on it or something!

I don't feel like I need to rent A Christmas Carol this year, but do feel you guys got Scrooged.

Brown Jenkin · Dec 4, 2008

I know that past editions had a boom/bust cycle over its lifetime in regards to revenue, which also explains the hire/layoff cycle we have seen. I also see what apears to be a level of failure with regards to the new strategy WotC was going with to try to stop that cycle in 4E. WotC made several decisions that were supposed to level the income stream over the life of the product. The core books were intentionally limited in scope with PHBx, MMx, and DMGx coming out every year so that the first 3 books would no longer be considered all that was needed. This would to some extent match the yearly MtG product cycle where new rules/power systems are introduced each year. Then the DDI was also designed on a subscription model so that a consistant revenue stream would be coming in each month. It seems to me that these attempts to flatten the revenue stream have not worked out so far.

ShinHakkaider · Dec 4, 2008

Darrin Drader said:
Who said they have to design for 4th edition?

I pretty much stopped listening to the D&D podcasts when 4E was announced, I may have listened to one after that. I'm pretty sure that Noonan was one of the guys who had a lot of issues with 3E and said something to the effect of "he couldnt see ever going back to 3E" or maybe it was mearls, I'm not sure.

Either way I don't see him as someone who would design for Pathfinder or anything 3E related. Honestly I couldnt see supporting anything that he would write for anything 3E related. I'd also guess that the 4E fans here wouldn't either...

Unless you were talking about him writing for something not D&D related...

joethelawyer · Dec 4, 2008

Herremann the Wise said:
The following analogy may be disturbingly appropriate. In Australia here where most farmers have to regularly deal with significant drought issues, the culling of some of your cattle is unfortuantely necessary. However, in this process a farmer will never touch their breeding stock unless they absolutely have to. Have WotC cut into their "breeding stock" in their thinning of the herd? I can't help but feel that they have (but that is very much from a fan-based but ultimately uninformed point of view).

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

good analogy.

And true what Darrin said, who said they would write for 4e? If a company canned me, call me vindictive, but the last thing I would do is produce something that helps their bottom line in any way. Pathfinder, C&C, and many other OGL options await.

layoffs?

deadsmurf

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ShinHakkaider

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Darrin Drader

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Scholar & Brutalman

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gribble

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Herremann the Wise

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justanobody

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Brown Jenkin

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ShinHakkaider

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joethelawyer

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