WotC's Annual Xmas Layoffs

[DaveMage]

Best wishes to Rich Baker and Steve Winter. Not real sure what WotC is thinking. I agree letting experience walk out the door can be a difficult position for a company.

I just don't understand why WotC does this every year at Christmas. I mean if it happens once, I can see. But every year this happens. Can't they work their books a bit to push this off to a different time. Layoffs are never good, but the feeling of animosity towards WotC seems much higher when they insist on doing this just before the holidays.

We are in a small niche hobby, it doesn't help to look like Ebenezer Scrooge during the holidays - every year.

If I recall correctly (unless things have changed), WotC has a generous severance package. Therefore, doing so before the holidays is not so bad as they will essentially have paid time off for several weeks. A perfect time to go visit family and recharge one's batteries before finding a new job.

(And, of course, there really isn't any *good* time to be laid off.)

 

[scruffygrognard]

They are nuts to be getting rid of such talent... and crapulent for doing so just before Christmas. Paizo would be wise to snap them up.

Best of luck to Steve and Rich!

 

[D'karr]

They don't generally hire people back. They just keep laying people off continuously. Monte Cook is the only one I know of that they hired back.

Monte Cook was not fired. He left on his own to seek better opportunities. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall, and preempted the firing, which I doubt by the way he mentioned his departure. Some of the people that have been laid off over the years are still working as free-lancers with the company.

By hiring them as freelancers the company retains the expertise/experience but lowers the overall costs in senior employee salaries and benefits, which are the real costs to the business.

I don't like the practice, but I can understand it from an business/economics standpoint.

I wish both of them the best of luck, and holiday blessings. May they both land on their feet soon.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I just don't understand why WotC does this every year at Christmas. I mean if it happens once, I can see. But every year this happens. Can't they work their books a bit to push this off to a different time. Layoffs are never good, but the feeling of animosity towards WotC seems much higher when they insist on doing this just before the holidays.

That's a good question and one that I've seen crop up often. I just sent Rule of Three a similar question. They may be unwilling or unable to discuss it but it would be helpful to hear WotC's rationale.

 

[D'karr]

That's a good question and one that I've seen crop up often. I just sent Rule of Three a similar question. They may be unwilling or unable to discuss it but it would be helpful to hear WotC's rationale.

I guess it will be a little "hard" for Rich Baker to answer this rule of three question.

Businesses are rarely going to discuss their business practices outside of their own walls.

 

[TerraDave]

This is harsh.

Steve Winters was one of the last true old timers and Baker had my favorite DDI column and has done all kinds of stuff.

As for the quote about D&D staffing levels...I guess you can read my XP comment above.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Businesses are rarely going to discuss their business practices outside of their own walls.

Even so, it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Azgulor]

Gah! This sucks. I admire the work both of those gents have done over the years. I wish them both continued success in future endeavors.

And generous severance or no, it's still a douche move to fire staff before the holidays. Couple that with a crappy job market where it can be a long time before you find another job -- extra douchey.

Yet somehow I think that if 5E were released in January, it'd still be lapped up like an addict let loose in a crackhouse. You want to know why some companies pull crap like this? It's because they know that their customers will buy their goods anyway.

 

[D'karr]

Even so, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Sure, I just found it ironic to be asking it as a rule of three question, which was Rich Baker's column.

 

[OpsKT]

I appreciate the courtesy you express towards your remaining colleagues, but I would be surprised if you think your last line is actually true. Monte's columns have been pretty much the opposite of what Steve's have always been. They border on the pedestrian, are very unclear as to their actual content, and few people should have difficulty finding something more intelligent or coherent at a random fan's blog posts.

Since his hiring in 2005 with the knight class for PHB 2 class, Mike has not exactly encouraged us to believe he can deliver a finished design. It seems he is better at describing an idea than designing it.

I firmly believe that Cook was brought back just to make a last ditch attempt to regain ground in the edition wars, by taking 5th Edition back to the rules-laywer mess that was v3.5. If they do that, I will not be buying it, and I will do my fantasy games with Savage Worlds and BRP.

I also want to point out, that there is a lot of people out there, every day, fighting their little battles in the edition wars, clamoring for WotC to fail. Then they have the nerve to act upset when WotC lays people off. That's like people feeling bad for the Michigan Auto Industry that have spent the last 20 years telling people to buy Toyota! And it's either hypocritical, or the result of a huge intellectual disconnect.

If Pathfinder 'wins' and D&D goes down as a game, it's not that Paizo will be able to buy the rights and re-publish D&D 'the right way' like people keep hoping, it's that there will be NO D&D RPG. As I have told many people, Hasbro did not really buy D&D for D&D, they bought it for Drizzit, and Elminister, and the like. The novel sales have always been a more reliable revenue stream than the RPG, as well as video game rights and now, Board Games. If D&D falls, outside of novels and video games, the only D&D you'll see are more of those board games.

The poor sales response to Essentials has led to this in part, which comes in part from the edition war I see on every forum and hear in every game store. All these people complain about Hasbro laying WotC people off, but then keep trying to put D&D out of business.

If D&D was selling like it did before the edition wars, before Paizo essentially re-sold WotC's v3.5 rules under a new name (which Paizo admits because they needed it in print to support their bread and butter, Adventure Paths), these layoffs would not happen. But when Hasbro shuts down D&D, if the upcoming edition (they will not admit to using Monte Cook in an attempt to go back to something more like 3ed edition but different enough to call it 5th) does not meet sales quotas, then D&D will become an IP used only for video games, novels, and board games. Hasbro will never sell the IP because to sell it would be selling Drizzit.

And if that happens, Future Generations will never know D&D, only it's clones and retro refits. And that would be sad for gaming.