Greg Tito Is UHURA!

Former Escapist editor-in-chief Greg Tito is now WotC's new Communications Manager according to D&D Brand Manager Nathan Stewart -- "Please welcome Greg Tito newest member of the D&D team. Greg joins our team as Communications Manager and official bag of holding holder." Greg was laid off from The Escapist a couple of weeks ago. He mentioned his recent layoff, whihc also involved others: "Due to budget cuts at Defy Media, the parent company of The Escapist, Game Front, and GameTrailers, a large number of my colleagues have also been let go. This news sucks for everyone, including those left behind to run these publications. My thoughts are with all of you and I hope you bounce back with a new gig soon."

 

[Eminence_Grise]

They've been working on D&D Next and 5E for 2 or 3 years? I find it odd that they are looking for a communication officer now. What is there to communicate now? They have a 10+ persons team and almost no product to hype or sell.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about tabletop and not enough for boardgames and video games.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

They've been working on D&D Next and 5E for 2 or 3 years? I find it odd that they are looking for a communication officer now. What is there to communicate now? They have a 10+ persons team and almost no product to hype or sell.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about tabletop and not enough for boardgames and video games.

My personal theory:

While Next was in open playtest development, almost all "communication" with fans was deeply intertwined with the game development itself. That means that you wouldn't want a PR guy handling it - you'd want someone like Mike Mearls, who's fairly plugged in to the latest updates the dev team is working on, or the lady they hired to do the surveys and data analysis.

Now that the playtest is over, their relationship to their customers becomes a bit more typical: the devs work on products, sometimes in secrecy, and they have an experienced game journalist/editor to get people hyped about those products.

 

[Moorcrys]

Well, I really don't know what 'gamergate' is but I do know he was involved in the creation of the Adventurer, Conqueror, King system, which I personally love and think is awesome.

I wish him all the best and success in his new job.

 

[Acr0ssTh3P0nd]

I'm not going to even touch Gamergate as a topic with a 10-foot-pole at this point. Too touchy a subject, people's feeling get hurt, etc etc.

I will say that I'd much rather see WotC employ a person who once posted an article defending a person from (what some might consider a baseless accusation of) harassment than a person who instantly questioned her honesty in the matter.

 

[Sunsword]

As someone who is mostly unfamiliar with Gamergate, I think the prescient point to this hiring was that he was Editor-In-Chief of the Escapist. And therefore has some level of "geek cred" to the powers that be at Hasbro/WotC. The fact that his hiring has generated this thread is proving their point. All publicity ends up being good publicity in the end.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Hey, maybe WotC will tell us about their upcoming products now! They couldn't before because they didn't have a Communications Manager. The radio silence makes sense now!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

It's a reference to Lt. Uhura from Star Trek. She was the Enterprise's communications officer.

Thanks for that. I was wondering what the title meant.

 

[Lily of the Valley]

I wonder how many positive reviews WotC got in the Escapist before he got this job. Not that I think this is a bribe, I really don't, just that self-censorship helped his career.

There should be a thicker wall between compagnies, politics and journalists. Or at least more public disatisfaction from the public.

 

[mlund]

He's in the Marketing department, with a mandate to spin everything to make the company look good. His new position has nothing to do with journalistic integrity or whatever. He's now acting in professional capacity as a shill, so shouldn't everyone be happy now?

Marty Lund

 

[Sonny]

I wonder how many positive reviews WotC got in the Escapist before he got this job. Not that I think this is a bribe, I really don't, just that self-censorship helped his career.

There should be a thicker wall between compagnies, politics and journalists. Or at least more public dissatisfaction from the public.

Self-censorship? For what? Actually liking a product? Unless you have proof otherwise, the story here is: Guy worked at media outlet and wrote about something he was a fan of (D&D) decided to apply at the company whose work he liked and got the job.