Forked from WotC Layoffs: Industry Size

[Mark]

(. . .) 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.

Hi Lisa. Thanks for personally handling a flipmat exchange for me at Gencon a couple of years back Your customer service from the top down is excellent.

May I ask how many people Paizo has annually had to lay off to help with cost control?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

You get WotC. We get Paizo.

Sounds like a deal to me!

A bit unfair though... we get Paizo, they get WotC.... Why should we be the lucky ones? (Incidentally, ran the first part of Crimson Throne this afternoon. Some of the best fun that I have had running a game in the last year! The new Path looks to be just as much fun.)

The Auld Grump, yes I am a sadist, but my players love me for it....

 

[Rechan]

Why should we be the lucky ones?

Speak for yourself.

 

[Klaus]

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.

I know you did the comments, I just wished we went into it a bit more.

 

[Erik Mona]

May I ask how many people Paizo has annually had to lay off to help with cost control?

Paizo has laid off about a half-dozen people since it started 7 years ago, mostly because the magazines they were working on had to be closed for various reasons.

The company has never conducted "regular" annual layoffs, if that's what you're asking.

--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing

 

[Roland55]

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. 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.

Btw, I was the first employee at WotC back in 1991, so I know a bit about growing companies. At one point, when we had the retail stores, WotC employed almost 2,000 people.

There are a lot of companies being run as people's hobbies in this industry. Heck, that is how both White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast got started, but Paizo is the full-time job of 26 very talented people, who don't have time for hobbies!

-Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo

I daresay this will surprise few -- it certainly didn't surprise me.

Congratulations on the success of Paizo; long may it continue.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Speak for yourself.

Errrr... I think that I am the only one that I can speak for.

I really like Paizo's products, most especially Curse of the Crimson Throne. WotC's adventures just never grabbed me like Paizo's Adventure Paths - Paizo even got me reading Dungeon Magazine again, while it was under their helm. (And I had given up on the magazine.)

Since much of the enjoyment that I get out of the adventures is from the setting and atmosphere (I am really digging the plague in Crimson Throne) you might well be able to convert the adventures to 4e. (If that was your intent, I am not at all certain on that.)

Back on topic - yeah, RPG companies are small. They always have been. In many ways this is still a cottage industry, with folks putting in hours outside of their full time jobs.

Full time people are actually more likely in the supporting industries - making miniatures, game mats, and the like.

The Auld Grump

 

[BryonD]

Errrr... I think that I am the only one that I can speak for.

Perhaps I'm misreading, but I think he was tongue in cheek taking exception to the "we" in your statement. As in, he is quite happy being a lucky one, thank you very much.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Perhaps I'm misreading, but I think he was tongue in cheek taking exception to the "we" in your statement. As in, he is quite happy being a lucky one, thank you very much.

Ah, never mind then.

*DING!* Next!

The Auld Grump, sorry, half watching Hogfather for the third time.

 

[Xyxox]

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

Games Workshop is much much larger than WotC. The marketing model demands support of over 300 retail stores globally where they realize approximately 50% of their sales resulting in 1000+ employees worldwide. In 2005 it was reported to be 3200 employees, but they've closed omse stores since then and have been altering their store hours and how their store managers work. Some stores now have only two employees total and are open most days 1:00 PM to ~10:00 PM in the states to catch the target demographic at key hours.