Project Sigil 90% Of D&D’s Project Sigil Team Laid Off

Reports are coming in of a swathe of layoffs at Wizards of the Coast, constituting 90% of the team of the new Project Sigil virtual tabletop platform. In all, over 30 people have been laid off, leaving a team of around 3 people.

Sigil is still in beta, only recently made public three weeks ago. Recent reports indicated that the scope of the project was seemingly being cut back.

WotC’s Andy Collins—who has worked on multiple editions of D&D and other WotC TTRPGs going back to 1996—reported via LinkedIn that he was one of those laid off. He indicated that the small team left behind would continue to work on the project.

More news as it comes in.

 

[popuman]

What about all those people who preorded the 2024 rulebooks so they would get a Gold Dragon mini in Sigil? Are they still going to get it? Will there be any use?

Oh noooooooo!
Three people left to maintain this platform. Ooooooffffff.

 

[Zaukrie]

What about all those people who preorded the 2024 rulebooks so they would get a Gold Dragon mini in Sigil? Are they still going to get it? Will there be any use?

Got it. We can use it as long as we don't delete the app from our computers. Give or take

 

[Metroido]

Got it. We can use it as long as we don't delete the app from our computers. Give or take

Extract the file and you could maybe make 3D prints with it.

 

[OB1]

<facepalm> Oy.

The gaming industry is in freefall, now.

We’ve had studios closing left and right, thousands upon thousands laid off so often it’s not even being noticed anymore, and people with 20+ years of experience are unable to find work outside a Walmart.

This is not a trend anymore. Way past the bottom and making craters.

I know people unemployed since the beginning to 2024. Artists. Programmers. Game designers.

Heck I’m one of them. What the frack is going on?

Same thing that's going on in the film industry. I'm a 20 year marketing veteran for feature films who lost his job last summer and is now pivoting into nursing as a new career after I sent out 400 resumes and landed only a single interview for a job way below my level of expertise, that I didn't land.

In a nutshell, the fracturing of the mass audience has reached a level where almost no AAA content can make it's money back, and both industries are in the middle of a major correction in how they operate to account for that. I'm not sure Hollywood CAN change quickly enough (Sony may have the best shot), and will likely end up no longer being the world leader in Theatrical/TV entertainment when the dust settles.

 

[Umbran]

Exactly. You assume it will go wrong, figure out how it's going to go wrong, and then - if possible - move to prevent that going-wrong before it happens.

With respect, while that's what we would want to see happen, in practice pessimism typically extends to feeing that prevention efforts are a waste of time, such that pessimists are not particularly motivated to engage in such.

 

[Retros_x]

Seems like a weird time to fire 90% of your staff just weeks after launch but I'm not really sure how the video game/programing industry works.

It is normal in IT industry - if a project failed. Which is quite common, software is hard, but its most definitely an indicator for a project failure. The 3 people left are just to keep it running for a while but I wouldn't be surprised if they plug it completely in a few months.

 

[Umbran]

I mean, it was just a joke.

So? Nobody should correct misconceptions presented in jokes?

 

[messy]

June of last year, as I recall:

WotC Thread 'Andy Collins returns to WotC'

May 29, 2024

Andy Collins returns to WotC.

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On April 1, 1996, my career in the game industry began with a call from Wizards of the Coast.

Twenty-eight years later, history repeats itself.

In three weeks, I will return to Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Game Rules Specialist to help guide the new D&D virtual tabletop to reality.

I'm excited for the opportunity to contribute once again to the greatest game ever created, and I look forward to collaborating with...

• darjr
• Replies: 20
• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

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So they hired an industry veteran then fired him nine months later? Bizarre.

 

[TiQuinn]

So they hired an industry veteran then fired him nine months later? Bizarre.

I mean, they are shutting down the project that they hired him for.

 

[Retros_x]

So they hired an industry veteran then fired him nine months later? Bizarre.

The project is failed and is gonna end. They don't need him anymore. Is it fair? Not really because its probably not his fault that the project failed, but from business perspective it doesn't make sense to continue paying him.