Charles Ryan (and others) out at WotC?

[Radiating Gnome]

Just one more voice in the chorus. Charles, and the others too, thanks for all your hard work. Good luck with future work, projects, and children.

I had my own layoff/out of work experience a few months back, and it was LOADS of fun, let me tell you. Our dog was happy -- Dad was home and she didn't have to spend all day in her kennel. There's always a bright side.

-john

 

[Odhanan]

So, we've lost the brand manager for D&D?

Puzzling, really. There could be a thousand reasons why some people were fired. Bottom line, we do not know what it is about, exactly.

My best wishes to the former employees. Hopefully, it will give them new opportunities in their lives.

 

[painandgreed]

I think Hecatomb had a major negative impact at Wizards. I have at least two stores that are literally giving it away as prizes because no one will buy it. Wizards made a huge push with this "adult" game and I do not think it has done too well. The game play really stinks and the cards are very difficult to shuffle.

The stores in my area are having the same problem with the Axis and Allies minis game. I know at least one store that has given away an entire case of starters and boosters because no one wants it. Wizards made a huge mistake in not making it to the same scale as the DDM and SWM lines. A lot of people would have loved to use the figs for a modern game.

Well, I can't contest the Hecatomb comment. I know people who did some artwork for the game and have all the cards as well as a Lovecraftian fetish, and we just end up using the cards (commons anyway) as coasters for while we're playing D&D. So it comes to mind that something must be wrong with the game if they haven't got me to try and play it. Plus, I've never seen it at any of the local game stores.

As for A&A, I think it's a great game and has a place as the successor to AH's previous game Squad Leader. The scale is about right and even a little small for the type of game. The scale like D&D or SW for any sort of realistic wargame with tanks would be stupid. But in my personal opinion, collectable miniatures are just a wrong thing to try and sell to the target market which would probably be older wargamers. Even the D&D miniatures, although the game isn't that bad, I'll never end up shelling out money for random minis and have only played because a friend of mine will. If they came out in packages more like WH40k miniatures where I know what I'm getting and could buy what I need, I'd probably end up buying more.

 

[buzz]

Well, this blows. I will add my voice to the chorus as well. Mr. Ryan, I wish you and your family the best. I'm certain that you will be a hot commodity in the d20 market.

Anyway, Monte Cook mentioned the following in another thread:

However, from what I understand, it was Magic's sales that were strikingly bad, not D&D's.

This wouldn't be the first time that people working on D&D got laid off because WotC's larger brands suffered. (It happened right after the launch of 3E, when arguably D&D sales were better than they had been in about 20 years.) It looks to me like higher-end middle managers across the board got the axe.

Stupid CCGs!

I would also tend to agree with those who've mentioned the "fire the high-salary folk and replace them with junior staff" idea. I've been there; it's pretty damn common these days. :\

 

[StupidSmurf]

Well, this blows. I will add my voice to the chorus as well. Mr. Ryan, I wish you and your family the best. I'm certain that you will be a hot commodity in the d20 market.

Anyway, Monte Cook mentioned the following in another thread:

Stupid CCGs!

I would also tend to agree with those who've mentioned the "fire the high-salary folk and replace them with junior staff" idea. I've been there; it's pretty damn common these days. :\

My experiences in the Great Dot-Com Crash of 2000 have taught me that holiday layofss suck major butt, regardless of the severence package. Nothing can replace the peace of mind of knowing you have a steady income coming in.

My own experiences with Hasbro/WotC vs TSR have shown me that, although TSR was far from perfect, they seemed to have a greater degree of humanity and loyalty. At least that's how it was for me.

In regards to the "fire the high-salary folk, etc." tactic, there's a small part of me that wonders if the same tactic is/has been used on the older freelancers. I've been fuming lately about the fact that I wasn't tapped to contribute even a single lousy paragraph in the upcoming Secrets of the Moonsea, since I wrote the 2nd Ed AD&D Moonsea supplement, and have always been led to believe that it was a solid, decent entry into the FR canon. My lovely wife, while understanding my irritation, asked me to name any other freelancers who were my contemporaries who also no longer seem to get much work from the D&D folk, and are now working for other companies. I have to admit, she has a point.

To Charles: Very sorry to hear about the news. It sucks royally. Here's hoping you get something good in the very near future, and your family's enjoyment of the holidays doesn't get diminished.

 

[WizarDru]

One would think that innovating a new game would be better than a license. However, Hecatomb shows that mistake.

Just remember, just because an expansion is being released does not mean the line is doing well. They probably had it in production months ago. They will want to make some money off it even if they decide to cancel the game.

Well, one might think that. But I have no idea how it works. If Warner Brothers paid a chunk of money for WotC to develop games like XS and KND, then it's a much smaller risk than Hecatomb is/was. I'll be honest here, I was unaware that Hecatomb was even a WotC product until this thread. I'd seen some ads, but knew little about it, other than I didn't like the look of it. So I'm not suprised it's not selling; I mean, it's not like I don't get Dungeon and Dragon every month, or read the postings and previews here at ENworld. And if I don't know or care that much, I'm guessing that it's true for many others, as well. That, and like Gloom, I don't like the card design...even without having played the game.

I didn't mean to imply that the expansion meant they were successful; I realize that this sort of thing would have to have been in production for some time (and it's only been 4 months since the game came out). Individual store anecdotes obviously vary, obiously. Here in the Philly area, I see them all over the place, and they're clearly selling. Which doesn't prove anything, other than you and I are seeing different trends at different stores. The only way we'll know if they're actually sucessful is if another expansion (set III) were to come out...then we could infer it hadn't failed, at least.

 

[StupidSmurf]

I just hope MLB Showdown never goes away. I love that CCG!

 

[WizarDru]

My own experiences with Hasbro/WotC vs TSR have shown me that, although TSR was far from perfect, they seemed to have a greater degree of humanity and loyalty. At least that's how it was for me.

Just curious, was this before or during the Lorraine Years?

 

[Kanegrundar]

I just hope MLB Showdown never goes away. I love that CCG!

I've seen the ads on WotC's website, but I've never seen it for sale. If it's good, I may have to look into it. Granted, Strat-O-Matic Baseball will likely always be my baseball game of choice. I love Strat!

 

[romp]

put me in the "cost cutting of senior positions" category. Not going to go all Doom and Gloom over the future of D&D but some positions were redundant (because of the outside marketing) and a cost cutting move at the end of the year might be cold from a human point of view, but it does make sense from a corporate view especially a toy corporation which focuses on getting stuff shipped to retailers by Nov.

Still it was bad to lose Charles and it does not help the others who were let go. Good luck and Good fortune to you all.