More lay-offs at WOTC! [Merged]

[Oracular Vision]

Frankly, if they are just going to milk the Intellectual Property represented by the core books and expansions, why do they even need WotC? All the books to be released have already been written and are just waiting for release (Book of Vile Darkness, etc.) They don't need anyone except a shipping clerk and a PR weasel.

If Hasborg figures this out, then there will truly not ever be a 4th edition, because it would require up-front R&D, and there is no one left to do it by then.

Once a product has reached saturation, and is just in maintenance mode during the mature market phase, if new products are not being developed, the company will be trimmed to produce profits continuously until it is closed out. This is what large companies do, buy smaller ones and gut them and throw them away.

Someday, Peter will be able to buy the whole shebang for pennies on the dollar, and rebuild it again and laugh all the way to the bank, again. Smart man.

 

[BluWolf]

I have been saying this for two years.

This whole thing.

ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

Layoffs and all.........

was put in motion 4 years ago by Peter Adkison and Ryan Dancey.

Mark my words.

The whole plan is yet to be revealed but it is getting closer.

closer..................

 

[Rasyr]

The official WOTC messageboards just went down. They are upgrading to UBB 6.3. Here is the message you get when you try to read the boards:

"The boards are down as announced last week for an upgrade to 6.3 UBB. We expect to be back up again at end of the day, barring complications. --Boards Admin ::elevator music plays:: (Thursday, Sept. 5 2 pm PT) "

If those boards dont come back up, that will be a really, really bad sign. I am quite hopeful they will though.

They are still down....

What I find interesting is that little tag at the bottom which tells the version of the boards you are on says version 6.3.1.1

Guess they took them down out of self preservation......

 

[Bugaboo]

An executive statement:

The past 24-plus months have been an business model enigma for Wizards of the Coast. It is with great sadness that today we must announce some positional eliminations. Today’s organizational changes are designed to help deliver robust changes and generate synergistic archetectures as we extend enterprise relationships through the upcoming future quarters and beyond.

Unfortunately, some personnel slots have been strategically downsized to enhance economies of scale. The sentient resources directly affected by this restructuring will be sorely missed at this point in time and possibly later, but the bottom line must be upheld: profit at all costs.

While these types of moves are always difficult, our competitive industry demands that we repurpose cross-platform deliverables and mesh customized outputs into efficient leveraging opportunities. As part of Hasbro’s U.S. Games Segment in the United States, we can take advantage of the brick-and-mortar gullibilities as well as emerging e-enterprises in the naive segment of the roleplaying games market. It behooves Hasbro to obscure these budgetary realities for as long as possible, even at the expense of benchmark intuitive portals into new product avenues.

Wizards of the Coast will continue to lead the gaming hobby industry in table-top simulations and social interactive entertainment enhancements as we reinvent extensible solutions and monetize visionary networks. It is our intention to maximize value-added infomediaries and to engage innovative users like those of you reading this prepared statement at this point in time.

A Wizards of the Coast Executive

 

[Ashy]

Well, I am very sad to hear about these layoffs and I wish those without jobs all the luck in the world...

However, I do know one thing - it just got a whole lot harder to be a freelancer...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Welp, then I guess it's time to start creating the 'backup' core rules. First things - fireball becomes 4th level, polymorph other becomes 6th level (since it's instant death), and we give harm a saving throw.

Good idea!

I'll be removing Divination, Teleport, Commune, and all forms of Raise Dead.

They can keep Augury and maybe Reincarnation, if I am feeling generous.


Wulf

 

[Rasyr]

Not to belabor the point, but Hasbro CAN'T do that. Let's nip the speculation in the bud. Hasbro can no more rescind the OGL than I can. Anything that is OGC is stuck as OGC, under version 1.0a of the OGL, until it falls into the public doman (IOW, it's under the OGL forever since nothing will ever fall into public domain again).

The worst they can do is refuse to approve the remainder of the SRD - but since there are a plethora of OGC spells, monsters, and treasures out there already, they're screwed on that count, too.

--The Sigil

Not quite correct... Here is what they CAN do

1) pull the d20 license. No more future products with the logo

2) rescind the gentleman's agreement on all the unreleased SRD material, causing ALL of those products which do use this unreleased material to recall it, and start from scratch, or trash it completely. (once they pull the gentleman's agreement, all they have to do is send letters telling folks that they are in breach....

3) refuse to release the rest of the SRD. The portions released cannot be called back, but the rest (which a LOT of folks are using under the gentleman's agreement) can be pulled back, not released, and then all they have to do is to send out letters telling folks that they are in breach of the license, and those companies then have to either fix, or pull their product.....

4) they can do the same exact thing with the d20 logo.... If you are using that logo, and they kill the license, I don't think that they can make you pull it off an existing product (that is in the market), but come the first reprint, or new product, and it would have to go away.....

Hasbro CAN make life miserable fo those who are doing d20.....

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yar...this is sad, but not deadly...

Anybody who'se been fired: come work for 2 Euros and a Yank. We're Badass! And, y'know, we're....making a product...about BEER!

I think 3rd party is really the best thing...

Think of the dissapointing Deiteis and Demigods and the "Duh! We like Feats!" of the Epic Level Handbook...

Then think of the richness of settings like Nyambe and Oathbound.

Really, there's little question to me...3rd party is the wave of the future. Even if they revoke what they can of the OGL, there's enough people out there to create it again, using a different name and maybe slightly different rules, but reviving the Generic Fantasy Roleplaying Game anyway.

The *one* think Wizards has going for it right now is that their rules are solid so far. I hope they don't drag D&D or the rest of the OGL down with them, but even if they do, it'll just mean we can get back to the days of 2e: Creative stuff, broken rules.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Not quite correct... Here is what they CAN do

1) pull the d20 license. No more future products with the logo

2) rescind the gentleman's agreement on all the unreleased SRD

3) refuse to release the rest of the SRD

4) they can do the same exact thing with the d20 logo....

Correct on all points.

With regard to the d20 logo, I would not be at all surprised to see an Open License logo. There's been some talk of this already; all it would take would be something like this and you can bet your ass the 3rd party publishers would rally around it. It makes sense for all of the same reasons it made sense for WOTC in the first place.

As far as the SRD is concerned, first, I think WOTC would have a hard time rescinding the gentleman's agreement, if it was challenged in court. I think they've allowed its use long enough that sticking the genie back in the bottle would be extremely difficult. Of course I'm not a lawyer, and I tend to give judges more credit for common sense than most of them deserve...

Finally, when it comes right down to it, anything missing from the SRD can be created from scratch by using what is already available. Interesting to think that spells could take a totally different format... hmm...

All of this is idle speculation, however. I don't think this "catastrophe" will ever come to pass.


Wulf

 

[William Ronald]

Originally posted by Nikchick:

The minis team took some hits, but they've kept on Mike McVey and the latest of the brand managers, so I guess they're still planning on *some* sort of minis game.

I wouldn't get all excited, though. They're lopping 1/3 of the company off in this series of layoffs, and it's only a matter of time before the rest withers and dies as well. Even if they launch a second minis game, there's no way they'll be able to sustain it.

Nicole, do you, or for that matter anyone, know how many people have been cut from WotC in the last year or so. It seems like so many of the people whose work I enjoy have left WotC. I am beginning to suspect that WotC will not be able to meet Hasbro's expectations and may well be sold off in the future. (I expect Hasbro to hold onto WotC while it is in their financial interest to do so. No longer than that.) Also, is there something we can do to show our support of the people who got canned. I have been through layoffs and know how painful it can be. (I especially feel bad for Skip and Penny Williams. This has to be incredibly painful for them both with their long history at TSR then WotC and losing both jobs at once.) Too many good people, talented people, have lost their jobs.

Beholder, I know how you feel. I have been playing D&D with some of the same people since 1982. I have been with my friends through good times and bad. So the hobby is tied into my friendships and memories.

I think D&D will survive. Ryan Dancey received a HUGE round of applause at the ENnies when he received a special award for the OGL. I think it was well deserved. I think two things are likely to keep D&D alive and well: the OGL and more importantly, the players and DMs who have a love of the game.

In my campaign, we tend to do a lot of our own stuff. So even if someone decided to try to sabotage the OGL (probably can't happen, but I am not a lawyer), my group can continue on forever.

I suspect the people who lost their jobs will rebound and have a lot to offer us. In fact, I would like to suggest that someone with a gaming company talk to some of the designers who lost their jobs about future projects. Heck, if someone had a product with some of the namees I saw on the "fired" list, I would definitely be reaching for the wallet. (Maybe a special product with some money going to the people who were laid off at WotC.)

The key thing now is not to worry too much about the future. I think D&D will survive because we, the buying and gaming public, have decided that it will survive. That said, if I had the money, I would buy WotC in an instant -- and get out an SRD for everything!!!