[Updated] Chris Sims & Jennifer Clarke Wilkes Let Go From WotC

The details are unclear, but D&D editor Chris Sims has reported that he is now in need of a job, and is willing to relocate. He was hired by WotC in 2005 after working for them as a freelance editor. Part of the D&D 5E launch, he was one of the editors for the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, and was responsible for stat block development in the Monster Manual. The reasons have not been revealed, nor is it clear whether he left or was laid off.

Whether this is an isolated thing or part of more layoffs if unclear right now. More if I hear anything! In the meantime, if you can hire an excellent writer and editor, please do!

For more on ex-WotC employees, please check my list here!

UPDATE: Jennifer Clarke Wilkes is also in the same boat. She has worked on both D&D as an editor and on Magic: the Gathering, and has been working for WotC for many years.

UPDATE 2: Chris Sims confirms here that he and Jennifer were both laid off.

 

[Gecko85]

Judging by Chris Sims' Twitter feed, he was taken by surprise. In addition to his initial tweet about needing a job, he also posted this reply to someone who mentioned some available freelance work while he's looking:

Thanks, Cam. Can we talk as soon as I get my head back together?

That definitely sounds like someone caught off guard, not a contract expiring.

 

[Morrus]

Not "how many", but "what" - full time with benefits, part-timer, contractor, paid intern, unpaid intern, subcontractor, freelancer who gets 500 words thrown his way every 2-3 months, etc. That's what I'm actually curious about.

Employees, not freelancers or subcontractors.

If you count freelancers, hundreds.

 

[mlund]

Employees, not freelancers or subcontractors.

Again, "employees" or actual W2s with 35+ hours (what a "full-time employee" or "employee" means to a publicly-traded company)?

Though maybe that number fits for FTEs. Paizo makes a lot more than just Pathfinder books, after all.

Marty Lund

 

[Gundark]

Ugh....I suppose this means that 5e isn't selling as well as we all thought.

 

[Gecko85]

Ugh....I suppose this means that 5e isn't selling as well as we all thought.

Not necessarily. Could mean any number of things.

 

[Morrus]

Again, "employees" or actual W2s with 35+ hours (what a "full-time employee" or "employee" means to a publicly-traded company)?

I don't know what "W2" means. But Lisa Stevens says about 20 full time on Pathfinder itself, 5 art department, a bunch of admin/legal/web folks and various warehouse etc. So sounds like about 25 full time, the rest part time.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

I don't know what "W2" means. But Lisa Stevens says about 20 full time on Pathfinder itself, 5 art department, a bunch of admin/legal/web folks and various warehouse etc. So sounds like about 25 full time, the rest part time.

A W2 is an income tax form that employers both give to their employees and send to the IRS. It typically reports your earnings, taxes paid, certain benefits, and the like. It's also the most common form that a taxpayer has.

Not intending this to be insulting or anything; just informative.

 

[mlund]

Ugh....I suppose this means that 5e isn't selling as well as we all thought.

Well, layoffs have to do with the production of future products. That may or may not have to do with the success of already completed products. It really depends on the business plan.

I don't know what "W2" means.

Sorry, W2 is a tax-filing qualification for an employer and employee in the U.S. - distinct from a 1099 which would be an "independent contractor" (considered self-employed under U.S. tax and labor laws). If you are "headcount" in a US company that means you are a full-time W2 on file for the company. Contractors (or "contracted staff") either 1099s or are basically requisitioned from a staffing agency (and their W2 is filed under the agency), who is responsible for employment law compliance (benefits, taxes, etc.). It's all largely Kabuki Theater too, since the agency doesn't keep paying you if the other company just stops giving your work one day and they probably won't place you at a new position before you can find one on your own either (at least that's how it works in IT contracting). In either case Contract Staff can be dismissed at any time and the company that was using them isn't responsible for unemployment insurance, severance, or anything like that.

When a publicly-traded U.S. company officially reports on "employees," that's supposed to mean full-time W2s they are liable for. Contract staffing fees are filed under their balance sheets as a separate expense.

When a privately held company talks about "employees" they can refer to FTEs, interns, part-timers, family, and pets as "employees" if they please. Hence the curiosity.

But Lisa Stevens says about 20 full time on Pathfinder itself, 5 art department, a bunch of admin/legal/web folks and various warehouse etc. So sounds like about 25 full time, the rest part time.

Sounds about right. They publish monthly and Paizo doesn't have a larger corporate entity (WotC or Hasbro) that handles its admin, legal, web, publishing, vendor relations, or accounting functions.

Thanks for the info, +Morrus!

- Marty Lund

 

[Morrus]

A W2 is an income tax form that employers both give to their employees and send to the IRS. It typically reports your earnings, taxes paid, certain benefits, and the like. It's also the most common form that a taxpayer has.

Not intending this to be insulting or anything; just informative.

I don't really follow American tax forms in great detail. As hobbies go, that's pretty low on my list!

 

[Rygar]

I think this move is another sign of an industry (specifically, RPGs) in decline. The decline is likely long-term and permanent, unfortunately.

I would argue that there's two possibilities here. The first as you describe.

The second possibility is that WOTC's business plan is flawed. WOTC made the decision to remove XP from adventures and put in its place "Level now", this is an exclusionary change. If I prefer XP systems, a product like that means substantial extra work for me, and makes the product less interesting to me. If they'd done it the way it had been done for years then its trivial to remove the XP system for those who prefer XP-less systems. Just ignore the XP and announce levels where you like.

It's indicative of the type of thought that had got them in so much trouble previously, "You'll all play this way".

Their other self-limiting decision was not bothering with Dragon/Dungeon on release, and then making it a PDF only thing again. During a time period when tablet sales are stagnant to tanking and physical books are outselling E-books by a very substantial margin. Choosing to sell products to only a small fraction of your market never ends in success.

D&D, and any RPG, needs adventures people can buy. Many people are time-limited and/or imagination limited, and the only way to acquire them is through purchasable adventures. If I'm someone who doesn't have much time or isn't very good at coming up with stories the D&D products aren't terribly enticing to me. Especially if I'm a fan of XP, there isn't a product on the market that I can use to play D&D and there won't be.

They've made decisions that limit their potential customer base, possibly to a substantial degree. Making decisions that exclude customers, perhaps 70%-80% of your potential customers (Based on E-book penetration) isn't a sign of a market decline, it's a sign of a company that shot themselves in the foot through what appears to be just laziness.

I say laziness because their excuse for XP-less modules was primarily "It takes work to balance the critters through the module and instead of doing that work we're going to sell you a story and you can do the work". Their excuse for PDF only Dungeon/Dragon is even worse, some meaningless statements about the archaic magazine market while ignoring that all they have to do is direct sales like their competitor who is growing at a rate of 20% a year from what I've heard.

IMO this isn't a sign of a market decline it is a sign of a company who isn't terribly interested in capitalizing on their product. For it to be a sign of market decline I would argue that WOTC first would've had to have made an effort to acquire customers.