AEG downsizing

[wedgeski]

This is bad news for all involved. I must admit when I bought Spy2.0 I was flicking through the book and wondering how on earth anyone except WotC could afford to put together such a sumptuously designed product. Maybe those costs are now biting.

 

[MerricB]

Meh.

WotC have undergone a series of layoffs that started with the company restructuring back in Winter 2000-2001.

WotC have also recently hired staff: Stephen Schubert and Mike Mearls being two.

Cheers!

 

[johnsemlak]

Does anyone know the latest situation with the World's Largest City?

 

[philreed]

Phill, just curious what can the RPG industry do to help itself, do you think?

I don't think there's anything that can be done. This may shock people but I feel the internet -- and PDF sales -- are contributing to the negative market the mid-size print companies are forced to deal with. There's just too much stuff out there.

This post from RPG.net pretty much nails my feelings on the current market and upcoming changes.

No, I actually think that the Industry is in danger, with the gradual decline of mid-tier companies, and the industry being divided in two, with companies like WotC and Upper Deck at the top, and most everyone else struggling at the bottom.

I see CCG's and CMG's as the main source of revenue, with RPG's (as we know them), going the route of historical wargaming. There just isn't serious money in RPG's, and very little incentive for repeat purchases. And any mention of a serious price increase in books is met with anger, even though, production wise, the books of today are miles above what they were 10 years ago.

This is almost exactly my thoughts. As the shift takes place the mid-size companies will be forced to either drop RPGs in favor of product with a larger appeal or shutdown. The smallest companies will still manage to survive since their overhead costs are so low.

 

[Hussar]

Those of us that work in the industry know of numerous companies that have laid off and/or fired employees on multiple occasions during the last 3 years. Unlike the employees of these other companies, AEG's staff has always been close to the fans, any non-announcement would become a huge bitch-fest on their forums.

Well, it would be except for the fact that their forums have gone south as well. :\

 

[dpmcalister]

Probably in a bid to stop the aforementioned bitch-fest :/

 

[Maggan]

Hmmm ... I'm just waiting for eyebeems to show up and say "I told you so, but would you listen, oh, no you wouldn't".

I hope AEG will find a way to continue, some of my favourite d20 books came from them.

/M

 

[Psion]

Does anyone know the latest situation with the World's Largest City?

Well, if I couldn't tell you before, I could now...

 

[JustaPlayer]

I think that some of the problems may have been brought on by themselves. AEG took titles like 7th Sea, L5R, Dead Lands and such, then changed them to D20. Well, I bought those books because I like D20 stuff, but this put off their core fan base. So to try to get back the core fan base, they change the books to dual stat. Well, needless to say, the dual stat books put me off because I felt like I was paying for stuff I wasn't going to ever use. I'm sure some of the fans of the older systems felt the same way. Then this year they restart L5R with the old system. I would expect fans to drop like flies at this point, as they seem not to care about them but only the $$$$.

That, coupled with the fact that the Warlord RPG is more than 2 years past due. I mean come on, they put out Worlds Largest Dungeon start to finish in about 6 months and tell fans this in no way slowed the dev of Warlords. They haven't even updated the Warlord RPG page in over a year.

No, I stear anybody who asks me away from their products.

There are companies out there that treat fans much better.

 

[Morgenstern]

Well, it would be except for the fact that their forums have gone south as well. :\

What? You think we don't have accounts here too ?