Forked from WotC Layoffs: Industry Size

[Dragonblade]

I wouldn't mind seeing Paizo suck up some of that 4e know how that WotC released and starting up a separate 4e based development house. Maybe on a freelance basis to keep costs small.

I like what Paizo is doing as a company, I just have grown to loathe playing or DMing for the 3e ruleset. WotC does a fine job with rules and feats and such, but if I could get Paizo's love and attention to detail on a 4e adventure path or campaign setting, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat....

 

[BryonD]

I wouldn't mind seeing Paizo suck up some of that 4e know how that WotC released and starting up a separate 4e based development house. Maybe on a freelance basis to keep costs small.

I like what Paizo is doing as a company, I just have grown to loathe playing or DMing for the 3e ruleset. WotC does a fine job with rules and feats and such, but if I could get Paizo's love and attention to detail on a 4e adventure path or campaign setting, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat....

You get WotC. We get Paizo.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Chris is spot on that nobody is really the size of Wizards in both market share and number of employees, I do want to point out that Paizo has 26 full-time employees (and we are hiring still) who work in our 7,000 square foot office with a 16,000 square -foot warehouse. They get very competitive salaries and Paizo pays all of their medical and dental insurance as well as that of their spouses/domestic partners and their children. I just don't want people to think that Paizo is some sort of fly-by-night company working out of somebody's garage. We have a full-time accountant, two customer service reps, two warehouse guys, and a heck of a lot of full-time designers. WotC may be the 800 lb. gorilla in this industry, but Paizo is at least a 400 lb. gorilla.

I do call center work, and buisness managment normaly (before my carerer went to texas) but right now I am at the census, and I think these numbers really tell the tale atleast to me BETTER then chris did. WotC as the 800lbs gorilla had 2,000 employees... you guys at piazo as a 'name' company (no offence I bet WW, and Gurps are bigger...but you kick Rifts butt, and are about the same as the other 'big' players) has 26 full timers.

I normaly think small basment start ups as haveing 100-1,000 or so employees... the fact that wotc and you guys are so small really speaks volumes...

how many poeple are employeed in this feaild total? 5,000 maybe... most likly less...

Heck In collage I was a manager of a local pizza hut...I had 24 employees (about 15 full timers and about 9 parttimers) under me...so counting me we had a pizza shop with one less person then your whole company...

I just assumed that piazo had atleast 100 full timers... but I guess it makes sense...

 

[fireinthedust]

Hey y'all:

While Chris is spot on that nobody is really the size of Wizards in both market share and number of employees, I do want to point out that Paizo has 26 full-time employees (and we are hiring still) who work in our 7,000 square foot office with a 16,000 square -foot warehouse.

-Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo

Lisa: this may be a bit off topic, but have you considered how many *more* people you could hire if everyone occupied the standard D&D 5ft square? 1400 in the office, and 3200 in the warehouse. Not including Large-size employees, of course. If nothing else, they could attack the original 26 full-timers one at a time or in groups... No, wait, that wouldn't work: you'd have to fit in office supplies (unless we can fit folks in on top of office furniture).

I vote Flipmat: Paizo Office and Warehouse.

 

[PaizoCEO]

I wouldn't mind seeing Paizo suck up some of that 4e know how that WotC released and starting up a separate 4e based development house. Maybe on a freelance basis to keep costs small.

I like what Paizo is doing as a company, I just have grown to loathe playing or DMing for the 3e ruleset. WotC does a fine job with rules and feats and such, but if I could get Paizo's love and attention to detail on a 4e adventure path or campaign setting, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat....

Hey Dragonblade:

I understand your frustration, but Paizo really can't afford to divide our attention into doing stuff for 4e. Even if we could, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so because of the terms of the GSL. I never want to go back to a place where another company can tell me what I can or can't do with their IP. I started Paizo doing stuff for Star Wars and D&D, and within 5 years, I lost both licenses not because we sucked or whatnot, but because both companies (Lucasfilm and WotC) decided that it made more strategic sense for them to take their licenses back in-house. Trust me, having to come up with new product lines and revenues to save your company is something that I only want to go through once in my life. The GSL is revokable, so that is a non-starter for me right there.

-Lisa

 

[PaizoCEO]

I normaly think small basment start ups as haveing 100-1,000 or so employees... the fact that wotc and you guys are so small really speaks volumes...

how many poeple are employeed in this feaild total? 5,000 maybe... most likly less...

Heck In collage I was a manager of a local pizza hut...I had 24 employees (about 15 full timers and about 9 parttimers) under me...so counting me we had a pizza shop with one less person then your whole company...

I just assumed that piazo had atleast 100 full timers... but I guess it makes sense...

Actually, you are still way high. If you noticed, WotC had 2000 employees back when they had a) retail stores and b) Pokemon. From what I have heard, WotC is somewhere around 150 to 200 total employees, maybe even less. White Wolf is somewhere around Paizo's size, and perhaps a bit less. Steve Jackson has less employees than Paizo last I heard. Games Workshop is probably the company who is most likely to be the same size as WotC, but I doubt anybody else breaks 100. Or even 50. We tend to use a lot of contractors to do art and edit and legal and such. And work really, really hard. This industry is much smaller than most people give it credit for. And most consumers' estimations of company size are from data that is 10 or more years old. Not that there is that much good data to be had out there. i hope this enlightens a little better.

-Lisa

 

[DaveMage]

You get WotC. We get Paizo.

@Dragonblade: Ha-ha! /Nelson

 

[Khur]

WotC may be the 800 lb. gorilla in this industry, but Paizo is at least a 400 lb. gorilla.

Yep, Paizo and a few others have actual offices. I should've said so, but it was beside the point.

I guess, as far as size goes, it depends on what we mean when we use the sizable simian metaphor. If we're talking market share, I think it's inaccurate to say Paizo has even half what Wizards does.

But, again, that's beside my point and not something a really interested in debating. I'm very glad Paizo can be successful, no matter what metaphor is used to describe it.

This industry is much smaller than most people give it credit for. And most consumers' estimations of company size are . . .

. . . not based on any data at all. Just like our estimation of a company's income, sales, and stuff like that is often based on what we hope is true for a company we like.

You're very, very right about the size of th industry and the hard work. Thankfully, the industry large enough to employ . . . well . . . most of us.

 

[Khur]

Chris, just wanted to chime in and say I regret that we didn't manage to work together. Hopefully we will in the future!

Actually, we did . . . sort of. I commented on your Sehanine work for Chris Youngs. I hope it sees publication, because you had some cool ideas.

Plus, Sehanine receives far too little love for her portfolio.

 

[ggroy]

Armchair quarterbacking and speculation is a very popular pastime for some people.