Unconfirmed: More Layoffs at WotC

[Desdichado]

I got your point, but companies don't make those announcements because they want to. They make them because they have to. They are legally required to provide certain information to their shareholders and to make that information public. (Privately owned companies don't have to provide squat.)

And I specifically said that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about employees on their own time telling us (in admittedly vague terms) that D&D is successful for no reason other than because they want us, a tiny subset of the potential costumers and fans of the product, to not spout misinformed speculation about D&D. I'm not talking about official corporate statements. I specifically referred to comments made here, and elsewhere.

 

[Dausuul]

Can't we cite the generous severance packages received by those laid off as a sign of WotC's and D&D 's profitability?

Sure, but then I get to cite the layoffs themselves as evidence that D&D is going to hell in a handbasket.

Summarizing all of my above points:

• In general, layoffs are bad; repeated layoffs are worse; hence, WotC's yearly layoffs are very likely a Bad Thing.
• Beyond the observation that it hasn't tanked so badly as to be canceled, we do not know the health of the D&D line, and we will not know until WotC gives us some hard data (which they won't) or shuts it down.

 

[MrMyth]

The big problem I see is WoTC making short term decisions over long term ones. This is based on several things they did.

I think you may be confusing 'short term decisions' with 'changing business strategies based on past experiences'. They gave the magazine licenses to Paizo, and that worked out well for them. With the launch of 4E, they wanted to bring those in house and online - and that, too, has worked out well for them.

There was a span of, what, 8 years between creating the OGL and revoking it? That doesn't seem like a short term impulse, but a deliberate change in direction.

I mean, I don't know if all their decisions have been good ones (and I certainly don't agree with some of them), but I think it is pretty inaccurate to portray them as simply made on impulse, or focused on some short term goal. Something like DDI is clearly a long term goal, and I don't think there is any evidence to suggest otherwise.

 

[Atlemar]

I survived two rounds of layoffs at my last job before I got caught in the third. After each round, management would hold a meeting or send out an e-mail explaining a rationale. (I worked at a newspaper, so it was all about declining ad sales.)

For the ex-WotC employees (if any are still reading this deep into the thread), were there ever explanations of the layoffs from management? Or was there another generalized sense, maybe an internal conventional wisdom, of why management picked how many and when and who to lay off?

 

[MrMyth]

If that is so, we're already talking millions of dollars in foregone revenue already.

Except we don't know how much that compares to money brought in by new products that wouldn't have been there in different circumstances. Keep in mind that the majority of the money brought in by Paizo was not the result of them being established independantly in 2002, but of the release of 4E.

Does the amount Paizo has brought in compare to the amount WotC have made on 4E? Would WotC have been better served if they had retained their earlier creative staff, and were now responsible for both 4E and a continuation of 3.5 that was in competition with it?

I think there are several very big assumptions being made here that the release of creative staff close to a decade ago has led to millions in lost revenue for WotC.

I'm still not arguing that the culture of layoffs is correct or even profitable, but there really are a lot of claims being made in this thread without the relevant data to confirm them, or appropriate experience to support them.

 

[Jdvn1]

Does anyone have hard numbers on how D&D, specifically, is doing?

To answer this question, no one does. Well, except the WotC people, probably.

Hasbro doesn't list segments in that much detail, though net revenue in "Games and Puzzles" is up 7% year-over-year.

Though, Transformers is their biggest line. The only mentions I can find from their 2009 annual report:

"The increase in gross profit in dollars was more than offset by increased product development and sales and marketing expenses related to investments the Company made in both core brands and its digitial initiative related to its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary..."
(bad)

"The Company expects amortization expense to decrease in 2010 primarily as a result of the property rights related to Wizards of the Coast becoming fully amortized in the fourth quarter of 2009."
(good)

"In 2007 the Company reacquired the remaining digital gaming rights for its owned or controlled properties held by Infogrames Entertainment SA (Infogrames), with the except of rights to DUNGEON & DRAGONS, for an acquisition price of $19,000..."
(neutral)

So, really, this is a small amount of information regarding the health of D&D, though the D&D digital initiative probably didn't help.

 

[Eridanis]

We've had a lot of constructive discussion in this thread, but it's starting to go sour. Keep away from sniping, and the thread can stay open.

 

[Jdvn1]

WotC isn't going to come out and say D&D is going down in flames, even if it is, and why should they? If D&D were going down in flames, admitting the fact would just seal the deal - players would start migrating to other systems or quitting the hobby, and any hope of salvaging the product line would be lost.

If D&D was going down in flames, they'd cut bait and sell. Holding on to it would result in further losses.

 

[Shazman]

I'm not surprised that WotC is showing the same amount of respect and consideration to it's employees as it has to it's customers. They have done more than enough things in the past to warrant a boycott. Now they definitely deserve to be boycotted. Consider my DDI subscription cancelled.

 

[CleverNickName]

Without any specific report or press release, about the closest thing we have to "hard data" on the health of the company is through the stock exchange. According to this link, Hasbro stock is up 2.83% from yesterday, closing at 42.42. Not too bad...not stellar, but fairly solid.

Of course, this is for Hasbro, Inc. as a whole, not Wizards of the Coast LLC specifically.