I wish the guy the best of luck, but based on his work previous, and what he has been talking about in his column, IMO this is not a bad thing, as I do not jive with his ideas of the look of D&D.
I always thought a position at a major game company meant a dream job with low pay. Sooner or later a man grows up and needs a grown man's income. How's salaries at Wizards'?
This has been the explanation of Monte and Stan! for why they left, and I would imagine Cordell's as well (although I do not remember hearing him say that specifically.) I imagine this must be a Hasbro-mandated rule when it comes to working there full-time... and it's a bitter pill to swallow if you are not willing to plunge head first into the "D&D all the time!" body of water.
Fortunately for WotC, there is no shortage of people who are probably willing to jump down that rabbit hole to work on D&D, and thus they can replace those folks with cheaper and more single-minded alternatives.
From Glassdoor.com
Director $105-115K (2 listings)
Game Designer $60-67K (4 listings)
You almost get the feeling that Hasbro and to some extent WotC itself sees D&D the tabletop RPG as a cost of doing business rather than a source of revenue.
I think the almost-immediate announcement of Numenera is some pretty strong evidence on that one.I don't believe I've ever seen Monte offer this up as the explanation for why left...