WotC WotC - why are we still shocked with layoffs?

[overgeeked]

Run, don't walk away from WoTC, and support smaller companies.

Absolutely.

You have to Find the right Path.

No thanks. Way, way, way too crunchy.

 

[overgeeked]

Just because it's nothing personal, doesn't make it OK.

Exactly. "It's nothing personal, it's just business" has been used to justify the most horrific things.

 

[cranberry]

Absolutely.

No thanks. Way, way, way too crunchy.

Lies!

 

[Oofta]

Just because it's nothing personal, or not inherently evil, doesn't make it OK.

I've been laid off more than once, it's sadly common if you work in IT. In one case I left because I was tired of everyone else being laid off and saw the writing on the wall and left the company before they closed shop. Layoffs happen, sometimes they suck sometimes I just understood why it happened and moved on.

On the other hand there was just an interview with two people that were laid off and they don't seem to have any complaints about how it was handled. It sounds like they were given reasonable severance, really liked what they were doing and would happily go back to working there again. That reflects well on WOTC on how it was handled, even if it wasn't ideal. I don't know what else people expect; companies don't guarantee employment any more than employees guarantee they will never look for work elsewhere.

 

[MGibster]

So, how do we support the creatives, even the ones at WotC, but not the corporations? Is it even possible?

Unless a corporation is engaging in some egregiously bad behavior, I don't have much of an incentive to make sure I don't support them. At the end of the day, my primary concern is getting a good product. As I don't have access to the inner workings of WotC, I'm not sure there's anything morally or ethically wrong with the layoffs. If WotC continues producing something I want, I'll continue buying what they're selling.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Just because it's nothing personal, or not inherently evil, doesn't make it OK.

A lot happens in this world that is not OK.

The real question is what are you going to do about it?

Buying Indie Stuff won't change the forces that made Hasbro do this. Hasbro is no worse (and no better) than any other company in their position. It's not a Hasbro-specific problem.

So what world would we rather live in, and how do we make that world come about?

 

[CleverNickName]

So, how do we support the creatives, even the ones at WotC, but not the corporations? Is it even possible?

For my part? I'm taking all of my time and energy that would have otherwise been spent arguing about R5E and its playtest surveys, and pouring it into discussions of other game systems. Nobody wants to click on yet another "martials vs. casters" thread and watch the same five people talk past each other for 30 pages. I'd rather read some of your old-school D&D, Hero, or GURPS memories. Let's hear about some Savage Worlds. Let's geek out over the new Cypher games coming soon.

I don't want to punish WotC or Hasbro, I don't want to call for a boycott of 5E, I don't want to push some kind of OSR-hate, and I don't have a bone to pick with anyone. I just want to talk about something else for a little while.

 

[Remathilis]

I'd like to see a dent in the D&D monolith. That game has had a stranglehold on the industry forever, from a design standpoint, popularity, game play, expectations, etc.

Oh yay. Yet another person who wants D&D to fail. I find it amazing how many people on a supposed D&D "fan site" openly hate D&D.

 

[Remathilis]

If you intend to Boycott Hasbro for corporate layoffs, here are a bunch of other companies you can boycott due to massive layoffs in 2023.

Spoiler

• Nu Skin layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Hasbro layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• State Street layoffs: 3% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Zulily layoffs: 12% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Twillio layoffs: 5% of workforce ladi off (December 2023)
• Tidal layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Moonbug Entertainment layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Stellantis layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (December 2023)
• Spotify layoffs: 17% of workforce laid off (December, 2023)
• Bill layoffs: 15% of workforce laid off (December, 2023)
• ByteDance mass layoffs: undisclosed number laid off (November 2023)
• Jezebel mass layoffs: 100% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Dish Network mass layoffs: 3.5% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Charles Schwab mass layoffs: 5-6% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Starz layoffs: >10% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Siemens Healthineers mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Stroock & Stroock & Lavan mass layoffs: 27% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Shipt mass layoffs: 3.5% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Shell mass layoffs: .2% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Medical Solutions mass layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Faire mass layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Panera Bread mass layoffs: 3% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Condé Nast & Vox Media mass layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Splunk mass layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Master Lock mass layoffs: 4% of workforce laid off (November 2023)
• Bandcamp mass layoffs: 50% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Bungie mass layoffs: 8% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Beam Therapeutics mass layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Bullhorn mass layoffs: 9% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Shipt mass layoffs: 3.5% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Nokia mass layoffs: 16% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Geico mass layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Rolls-Royce mass layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Flexport mass layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Qualcomm mass layoffs: 2.5 % of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• LinkedIn mass layoffs: 3% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Ally Financial mass layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Qualtrics mass layoffs: 14% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Washington Post mass layoffs: 9% of workforce laid off (October 2023)
• Epic Games mass layoffs: 16% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Talkdesk mass layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• General Motors (GM) mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Center for Antiracist Research mass layoffs: 50% of workforce laid off (September
• WWE mass layoffs: 12% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Cisco mass layoffs: .4% of workforce laid off (September, 2023)
• Airtable mass layoffs: 27% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Slalom mass layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Grindr mass layoffs: 46% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• Roku mass layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (September 2023)
• PDC Energy (Chevron) mass layoffs: 33% laid off (September 2023)
• Barstool Sports mass layoffs: 25% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Farmers Insurance mass layoffs: 11% of workforce lad off (August 2023)
• T-Mobile mass layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Twiga mass layoffs: 33% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Intel mass layoffs: .2% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• BlueRock mass layoffs: 12% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• AppFolio mass layoffs: 9% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Tyson Foods mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Emergent Biotech mass layoffs: 15% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• Rapid7 mass layoffs: 18% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• CVS mass layoffs: <2% of workforce laid off (August 2023)
• KuCoin mass layoffs: 30% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Yellow mass layoffs: 100% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Kape Technologies mass layoffs: 30% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Entertainment Tonight mass layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Anheuser-Busch mass layoffs: 2% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• BioGen mass layoffs: 11% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• FibroGen mass layoffs: 32% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Allina Health mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Binance mass layoffs: 12% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Walgreens mass layoffs: .16% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Niantic mass layoffs: ~28% of workforce laid off (July 2023)
• Ford mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (June 2023)
• Robinhood mass layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (June 2023)
• Uber mass layoffs: 1% of workforce laid off (June 2023)
• Grubhub mass layoffs: 15% of workforce laid off (June 2023)
• Spotify mass layoffs: 2% of workforce laid off (June 2023)
• Rolls Royce mass layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (May 2023)
• JPMorgan Chase mass layoffs: .2% of workforce laid off (May 2023)
• Paramount mass layoffs: 25% of workforce laid off (May 2023)
• Shopify mass layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (May 2023)
• Morgan Stanley layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (May 2023)
• David’s Bridal layoffs: 83% of workforce laid off (April 2023)
• Roku layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (March, 2023)
• Lucid Group layoffs: 18% of workforce laid off (March, 2023)
• Meta layoffs: 13% of workforce laid off (March, 2023)
• Twitter layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• Twillo layoffs: 17% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• Roomba layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• Disney layoffs: 3% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• Zoom layoffs: 15% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• Dell layoffs: 5% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• HubSpot layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• PayPal layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (February, 2023)
• IBM layoffs: 1.5% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Gemini layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Yankee Candle layoffs: 13% of office workers laid off (January, 2023)
• 3M layoffs: <1% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Spotify layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Google (Alphabet) layoffs: 6% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Microsoft layoffs: 4-5% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Amazon layoffs: 1-2% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Carta layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Coinbase layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• DirecTV layoffs: 5-6% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Salesforce layoffs: 10% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Vimeo layoffs: 11% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Goldman Sachs layoffs: 8% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)
• Compass layoffs: size of layoffs not immediately known (January, 2023)
• Stitch Fix layoffs: 20% of workforce laid off (January, 2023)

 

[Scribe]

Splunk mass layoffs: 7% of workforce laid off (November 2023)

No not Splunk, I need them! lol