Jacob Marley
Adventurer
Hasbro's fiscal year-end is December 26th, IIRC. It has everything to do with budgeting for the next fiscal year.
On the off-chance that either Rich or Steve read this, I hope everything works out for you two!
WotC's Annual Xmas Layoffs
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Hasbro's fiscal year-end is December 26th, IIRC. It has everything to do with budgeting for the next fiscal year.
On the off-chance that either Rich or Steve read this, I hope everything works out for you two!
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
3catcircus said:
More than that, actually. It's a very short-sighted practice. It only makes economic sense for one year. In the long term, it actually costs you significantly.
Because the value of an older, more experienced employee is that the 10 years or so experience they have in the industry has granted them a deep, longitudinal, experiential knowledge that cannot be matched. They know game design. They live and breathe it. It has made up their livelihood for a big chunk of their existence on this planet. It saves you money by doing things like avoiding newbie mistakes and by thwarting attempts by the marketing department to take over everything and by giving you a grounding in the work that you do, day in and day out. Older employees provide leadership, guidance, and skills that come from simply having more years of experience.
Those benefits are difficult to quantify in absolute dollar terms (the benefits are more social, quantum, and structural, and though they result in absolute dollar savings, it is an indirect influence), so as far as the bean-counters are concerned, they're worthless.
I get that when the axe drops, someone's head has to roll, and better it be a well-paid dude with good connections and a solid resume then someone in a more precarious position.
But if I were a WotC employee, I might want to start asking why the axe has to drop so often, why so many heads have to roll, and where the head of this hydra lies, because it's not like Rich Baker or Steve Winter were poor performers. If D&D wasn't meeting expectations, I can't imagine the blame lays at their feet. It's higher up and deeper in. The problem appears to be systemic within WotC. It's not like Paizo has to lay off a handful of old hats right before the holidays every year, and while Pathfinder is doing swimmingly, I'm confident WotC still pulls in a bigger profit at the end of the year, with or without the yearly firings.
It is as if the very organization of the company is hostile toward the concept of an employee working there until they retire.
But lets hear Greg Leeds spin this news circa three months ago:
ICv2 said:
When I think of "stability," I generally don't think of the last 15 years of D&D, honestly...from TSR to WotC to 3e to 3.5e to 4e to Essentials to now maybe 5e, and with christmas firings on a yearly basis, "stability" isn't really the word I think of.
Incenjucar
Legend
I wonder what the chances are of the various layoffs getting together and founding their own game company...
Dice4Hire
First Post
Well, if Enworld used the same criteria, all you mods would be long gone.
Windjammer
Adventurer
Sad news indeed - and it's not simply that they fired someone, or that they fired someone at this time of the year. No, I'm astounded who they chose to send off.
Steve Winter, I think, has been working on and off WotC for several years now. I've always appreciated him for his "D&D Alumni" columns which at times seemed the only historical perspective left at WotC. For instance, his write-up on the use of miniatures in D&D's early to later incarnations was really well researched, thought out, and presented. It helped clear a lot of bickering around the topic in several RPG forums. It's rare that a WotC writer can do that - write something so well that he stands heads and shoulders above what you can retrieve online in fan blogs, and find a fairly conclusive and definitive statement.
That brings me to Rich Baker:
Hi Rich! I appreciate the courtesy you express towards your remaining colleagues, but I would be surprised if you think your last line is actually true. Monte's columns have been pretty much the opposite of what Steve's have always been. They border on the pedestrian, are very unclear as to their actual content, and few people should have difficulty finding something more intelligent or coherent at a random fan's blog posts.
Since his hiring in 2005 with the knight class for PHB 2 class, Mike has not exactly encouraged us to believe he can deliver a finished design. It seems he is better at describing an idea than designing it.
Next to Chris Perkins you were, to me at least, one of the two designers left at WotC who could actually design. I still think your Cormyr adventure for 3.x was one of the finest adventures of that era, and unlike other colleagues of yours (*cough* Bruce Cordell *cough*) putting your time to novels has not brought about a quality deterioriation in your RPG work. 4E's version of Dark Sun was an impressive piece of work, it was arguably the only campaign setting for 4E that met universal acclaim. Be proud of it, and know that your work will continue to be appreciated, especially in times when the future of game and the existence of quality products for it is not assured at all.
Best of luck, Rich and Steve!
Steve Winter, I think, has been working on and off WotC for several years now. I've always appreciated him for his "D&D Alumni" columns which at times seemed the only historical perspective left at WotC. For instance, his write-up on the use of miniatures in D&D's early to later incarnations was really well researched, thought out, and presented. It helped clear a lot of bickering around the topic in several RPG forums. It's rare that a WotC writer can do that - write something so well that he stands heads and shoulders above what you can retrieve online in fan blogs, and find a fairly conclusive and definitive statement.
That brings me to Rich Baker:
Since his hiring in 2005 with the knight class for PHB 2 class, Mike has not exactly encouraged us to believe he can deliver a finished design. It seems he is better at describing an idea than designing it.
Next to Chris Perkins you were, to me at least, one of the two designers left at WotC who could actually design. I still think your Cormyr adventure for 3.x was one of the finest adventures of that era, and unlike other colleagues of yours (*cough* Bruce Cordell *cough*) putting your time to novels has not brought about a quality deterioriation in your RPG work. 4E's version of Dark Sun was an impressive piece of work, it was arguably the only campaign setting for 4E that met universal acclaim. Be proud of it, and know that your work will continue to be appreciated, especially in times when the future of game and the existence of quality products for it is not assured at all.
Best of luck, Rich and Steve!
I get the impression that US suits go to business school and get taught that laying off random employees is somehow good for business - 'creative destruction' or somesuch. To me it seems like a terrible idea, guaranteed to ensure that nobody has any loyalty to or emotional investment in your company. It's particularly stupid when dealing with creative types.
I may be wrong; the guys who get laid off may not take it personally, again there's probably a cultural difference from the UK. Here being made redundant is a huge kick in the teeth, you can definitely forget about trying to hire them back again, even if they're not suing you for wrongful dismissal.
I may be wrong; the guys who get laid off may not take it personally, again there's probably a cultural difference from the UK. Here being made redundant is a huge kick in the teeth, you can definitely forget about trying to hire them back again, even if they're not suing you for wrongful dismissal.
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