Mari Kolkowsky (D&D Art Director) got laid off yesterday

[Umbran]

Art has always been a big part of D&D, especially in the later editions. Why would you lay off an art director to balance the books?

Game design and adventure design have also always been a big part of D&D, but those folks get laid off pretty regularly.

You might lay off an art director that's been around a while to pull in a new one at a lower salary, for example.

WoTc is owned by a major corporation, let's not pretend that all people that get let go are faultless.

The second part of that sentence does not seem to follow form the first. How does WotC being owned by a major corporation imply anything about fault in individual employees?

I don't pretend that all people that get let go are faultless. But, *given* the history, the financial explanation seems like the thing to look at first.

Though, Piratecat's note seems even more likely, still. A new upper management often leads to replacements lower down the chain, regardless of personal performance.

 

[TwoSix]

WoTc is owned by a major corporation, let's not pretend that all people that get let go are faultless.

Actually, let's assume they are, unless we're in a position to know better.

 

[iwarrior-poet]

Urgh

I HATE to think about all the billions that were at least in part inspired by D+D and its creators---only to see the company foundering like this. I am hopeful for D+D Next, but if it fumbles like 4e... Ugh.

 

[JeffB]

Sure you did
Am I - and the other people who replied to that post - completely misunderstanding it?

Wow. A Damage on a Miss post from FS. Whodathunkit? :/

 

[Gundark]

Sad news. Getting laid off is NEVER a good thing.

Also, isn't Chris Sims back at WotC?

 

[n00bdragon]

Ho ho ho! Looks like WotC is getting into the traditional Christmas spirit early this year!

 

[am181d]

WoTc is owned by a major corporation, let's not pretend that all people that get let go are faultless.

A layoff, by definition, is not about performance. But even if the conversation was "so-and-so is no longer working at WotC and we don't know why" it would still be poor form to speculate as to whether they might have been fired because they were bad at their job.

 

[dd.stevenson]

My only complaint about the new ignore features is that they do nothing when ten different non-ignored people all quote and reply to the ignored person.

 

[Wicht]

I'm hearing rumours that Mari Kolkowsi (D&D Art Director) got laid off yesterday.

I think her last name is spelled Kolkowsky. At least that's what she has on facebook and linked-in.

And, assuming the rumors are true, I wish her the best of luck in securing a new position as soon as possible.

 

[Mark CMG]

Sad news whenever someone gets laid off due to a corporate mindset and business plan that has built-in cyclical layoffs.

Given they are likely to release 5E on 06/06/2014, she has probably gathered 99% of the art being used to layout the books. They've got a bit of rules tweaking to do based on feedback from the final playtest pack, the layout to clean up, then it's off to the printers and in the hands of the marketing team.

Sadly, that probably means a bunch more layoffs coming in the next six weeks since much of the heavy lifting is done on the building of the new edition.