Unconfirmed: More Layoffs at WotC

[Dausuul]

If they signed a contract, then there might be some surprise (shouldn't be if they are students of history) but they still get paid. Otherwise, they are just like the rest of us. I'm not saying it ain't a cryin' shame...

Again - it isn't about getting paid and it isn't about the legal status of the employees. It's about running a company in a halfway sensible way.

I work on an at-will basis, like pretty much everyone I know who isn't in academia or the public sector. My boss could walk up to me tomorrow and say, "You're fired. Grab your coat and be out of here in ten minutes." And in the absence of provable discrimination or malfeasance, there wouldn't be a damn thing I could do about it. I wouldn't even get severance pay if they didn't feel like giving it to me.

However, if my boss did that, he'd be shooting himself and the company in the foot. For one thing, he'd be losing all the knowledge I've built up about the company and its operations over the last six and a half years. I know the ins and outs of all kinds of systems, in a way that my replacement would take a very long time to learn.

And for another thing, it'd freak out the rest of the department. Nobody wants to work in a place where the brass goes around firing employees without warning. If it happened repeatedly, everybody would be polishing their resumes and keeping an eye open for new jobs, and the people who would be quickest to find those new jobs would be the best workers. Meanwhile, the people still there would be in CYA mode at all times.

I'm not saying WotC can't do it, legally - clearly they can. I'm not saying it doesn't happen - clearly it does. I'm just saying it's a shortsighted and self-destructive way to run a business.

 

[MerricB]

I'm saddened to learn more people I like and respect will be leaving Wizards of the Coast.

What I find amazing that there are still people that I like and respect there, but the company keeps changing its personnel roster, and I'm finding it hard to keep up. Rodney Thompson's still there, isn't he?

It's worth noting that Wizards no longer has the Star Wars license; how much that has affected available placings is an open question. You'd imagine it would be a relatively minor thing, but this company baffles me as to how it handles its people.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Cull the herd to keep salaries down and pick up fresh meat when gearing up for a new edition from among the best and brightest in the industry while keeping a few old hands on to smooth the transition. Easier to do in the days when WotC supported the OGL and they could easily spot the odd Mearls or two. There will always be young turks willing to pack up their lives and move cross country to work in the big show, even if it only means for a year or two with constant job insecurity.

I don't doubt that this probably is their thinking. BUT... I have no idea whether this has anything to do with today's events or not.

Let's assume for the moment that they are not connected.

I accept that what you state appears to be the modus operandi of WotC, generally speaking, when it comes to their RPG department over the past eight years under Hasbro's ownership.

As a short-term business strategy, it's difficult to argue with this approach. It makes sense. Problem is, this has been a modus operandi for so long, it's no longer a short term strategy . No - I would say that it's a part of the firm culture at WotC by now.

Does that matter? I would argue that once it might not have - but it does when there are competitors for the talent in the marketplace -- and that talent has goodwill and legitimacy attached to their name, too.

I would also argue that throwing out the experienced designers to go freelance for your competitors sounded like a reasonable strategy when under the OGL -- the freelancing was directed at ultimately creating things which supported your products anyway.

Now? Now I would say that several of those chickens have come home to roost over the past decade.

They dismissed a wide swath of staff when Paizo was spun off. Paizo was then garbed in the legitimacy of "true stewards" of the game when they were the creative talents behind Dungeon and Dragon. When the principal people who created the 3.xx game leave the company and end up freelancing (or being hired by ) Paizo?

Not so good - but still - not necessarily bad if it's 2005.

But fast forward to the end of the decade and things aren't nearly so brightly-colored. Paizo continues to enjoy the benefit of "name talent" by people now creating Pathfinder products for them. Paizo's staff remains at a manageable size (same now as when the periodical division was first spuin off if I recall Lisa Stevens recent comments) -- but Paizo has a ton of goodwill -- and WotC does not.

And if Paizo has to compete to hire staff vs. someone at WotC? Paizo doesn't have the spectre of "we'll fire you at the end of the quarter" when they are hiring, either.

All by way of saying: WotC can manage to get away with that sort of staffing approach with name talent and act like a monopolist only for so long as they actually are one.

The problem is, many of WotC's business decisions in the past decade seem to have been focussed on ensuring that if they are a monopolist (and I would argue that for all intents and purposes, they were in 2001) -- they seem bound and determined not to remain one in the decade to come.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I'm not saying WotC can't do it, legally - clearly they can. I'm not saying it doesn't happen - clearly it does. I'm just saying it's a shortsighted and self-destructive way to run a business.

Heh. George Steinbrenner did ok.

 

[Remathilis]

While I didn't agree with Collins on some of his design theories (esp. during the 3.0 -> 3.5 era) He was a strong writer and and designer.

Sigh, I'm glad I don't buy WotC anymore; most of the people I liked are gone. In fact, its down to Cordell and Thompson.

 

[Fifth Element]

Sometimes I forget why I hate corporations. Now I remember.

You should probably narrow that down a bit. I own a corporation, and run my business through it. Do you hate my corporation too?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I was working for a company (I considered it a career not just a job) and was an up and comer... then we lost our 2 biggest accounts int he same week. We tried for over a year to stay afloat... I was layed off about 10 months into that year... but finaly we had to close.

From there I bounced almost right back... 3 month later I was an account manager at another job, and thing look good... until 7 1/2 months in to that job (Not even a full year from my last layoff) the new company merged with another, and everyone with less then a year in was layed off...

I have done 4 diffrent temp jobs, and 3 stints in the US census... and now have a longterm temp office job that ends right before the 4th of july...

in 3 years I have gone through 9 jobs... through no fault of my own... My heart goes out to the people who lost there jobs, but really it is kinda comon place today...

 

[Qwillion]

My hope is they land on their feet, and find an even better job.

 

[Azgulor]

Cripes, that sounds like a stressful environment.

It is. I went through it in a different industry, but the culture sounds exactly like what I lived through.

The survivor's guilt is real. When the pattern first emerges, you tell yourself it was just bad luck. Once you can predict the pattern, you swing from survivor's guilt to constant fear/paranoia you're next.

In my situation, I was blessed to find a better job and exit on my own terms. Being stuck in the previous environment aged me - or at least the constant stress wore at me in a way that was obvious to anyone who knew me. I was blown away by the number of people who didn't know I had changed jobs but commented on how I "looked younger". Smiling will do that, I suppose.

I wish those affected the best. I hope that those who left before them moved on to bigger and brighter futures.

And before everyone says, "that's corporate America", BS. I'm a capitalist and a fan of corporate America. The job I left was a culture that was stressful and avoidable. The job that I moved to was so far away from that culture it was breathtaking.

Bottom line: Corporate vision counts. Management philosophies count. Corporate priorities count. Employees and customers count. WotC isn't the way it is b/c it has to be. WotC is the way it is b/c that's what those running it have decided it should or must be.

I'm an outsider with no claim to criticize other than the Internet let's me do so. Feel free to discard my opinion without reservation. I'm just a guy in corporate America who's seen the view from a poorly-run company and a well-run company.

Whatever anyone thinks of my analysis of WotC's business plan/management style, when you can set your watch by annual or bi-annual layoffs, then it's an irrefutable pattern -- it's intentional. If WotC had a problem with it, they'd find a way to change it. I have yet to see a WotC employee, current or future, that has indicated that the WotC execs are bothered by the cycle, let alone trying to change it.

And don't play the Hasbro card, either. Hasbro's involvement probably starts and stops with "meet these profit targets". The WotC Execs call the shots on how those targets are met or what actions are necessary when they aren't.


I keep hearing "it's typical for the game industry" and maybe it is. However, Linae's comments are the closest I've ever seen to employees knowing it's the nature of the beast. If it's truly that widely known AND people still willing commit to a job that they know is short-term in nature than I sincerely tip my hat to you. You have more guts than I do to pursue your dreams at the sacrifice of financial stability. Your love of the hobby has helped me enjoy & sustain my love the hobby and you have my sincere thanks. (Even if I'm not a 4e fan.)

 

[Derulbaskul]

My condolences to all who have been affected.

This is one of the many aspects I hate, loathe and detest about large US corporates (in particular); somehow churning through staff is seen as a virtue.

On a positive note, my understanding is that salaries in this (pseudo-) industry are extraordinarily low. These folks clearly have talent and a solid work ethic so I am sure that there are more significant rewards available from a range of other employers. Good luck to them all.

I do hope that either Hasbro is able to do a Transformers with the D&D brand and create a movie which is a major box office success so that D&D is no longer the red-headed stepchild of their brands. Unfortunately, D&D is simply not big enough for Hasbro; I can only hope a smaller group steps up to the plate to buy them out.

(Heck, if it wasn't an American company I would put my private equity contacts together and have a go at doing the deal. However, there are too many risks with doing business in the USA particularly when large litigious corporates are involved.)