Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
RFisher said:Layoffs are always a sign of a problem. Layoffs are never positive. Despite the fact that there are an awful lot of unhealthy companies in this country, a healthy company should never have to resort to layoffs.
There are only two reasons for layoffs: (1) You core business is in trouble (which may or may not be management's fault). (2) You hired a lot of unnecessary people, which probably means you've got some managers of questionable talent.
In trying to paint the most positive light on this, here's what I came up with:
The core rulebooks are out, and WOTC doesn't need to maintain a lot of full-time, professional, dare I say "high priced" designers. At this point the d20 license and 3rd party developers are all they need to keep driving business back to their core rulebooks.
Dropping designers actually seems like an efficient move to me. I would not be at all surprised if they chose to pick these guys up for the occasional freelance project. They've done so with Monte, after all; and it doesn't seem like anyone is burning any bridges.
There just doesn't seem to be a need for full-time designers.
That's my positive spin... I haven't completely bought it myself though.
Wulf