[Updated] Chris Sims & Jennifer Clarke Wilkes Let Go From WotC

The details are unclear, but D&D editor Chris Sims has reported that he is now in need of a job, and is willing to relocate. He was hired by WotC in 2005 after working for them as a freelance editor. Part of the D&D 5E launch, he was one of the editors for the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, and was responsible for stat block development in the Monster Manual. The reasons have not been revealed, nor is it clear whether he left or was laid off.

Whether this is an isolated thing or part of more layoffs if unclear right now. More if I hear anything! In the meantime, if you can hire an excellent writer and editor, please do!

For more on ex-WotC employees, please check my list here!

UPDATE: Jennifer Clarke Wilkes is also in the same boat. She has worked on both D&D as an editor and on Magic: the Gathering, and has been working for WotC for many years.

UPDATE 2: Chris Sims confirms here that he and Jennifer were both laid off.

 

[Alphastream]

I wonder how many people Paizo has let go since they started publishing Pathfinder? A company owned and operated solely by people who play and have grown up working in the business, many of whom were themselves let go by Wizards of the Coast at one point vs pretty much Hasbro/WoTC corporation who answer to nameless suits for the most part.

I wish the best of luck for Chris and Jennifer in whatever they go do now.

A good number, but it isn't causal. WotC's and TSR's enemy has always been the industry and itself, not other companies. If anything, the track record is that of other companies helping to make D&D much stronger. (As an easy example, what others were doing with D&D pushed TSR to flesh out Greyhawk as a campaign setting and to publish adventures.)

The problem is really everywhere in the industry. Wizards and Paizo have been unusual in hiring a large number of full-time employees. Paizo has clearly been growing each year. Wizards seems to now be shrinking, even as it has a very successful fifth edition. Some of it seems very deliberate: an attempt to escape the classic problems that plague all RPG companies (core books sell well, later supplements show diminishing returns).

 

[billd91]

Well, layoffs have to do with the production of future products. That may or may not have to do with the success of already completed products. It really depends on the business plan.

Right. And, unfortunately, this seems to fit right in with WotC's Hasbro-era plan. Whether riding high on a recent release or not, they seem to shed higher-paid, longer tenure workers to go into game-maintenance mode. There may be some rational decision-making behind it depending on how you prioritize the bottom line and pick up the nickels. They also frequently pick up new talent in the wake of layoffs. Then the cycle begins again. So, from one perspective, we've got a game company getting rid of higher paid workers in favor of lower paid ones to have a better bottom line. But from another, we've got a game company hiring newer authors, training them, and sending them away once they've got experience under their belts - so they are like a farm team for their own competition.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Wizards seems to now be shrinking, even as it has a very successful fifth edition. Some of it seems very deliberate: an attempt to escape the classic problems that plague all RPG companies (core books sell well, later supplements show diminishing returns).

Yeah. Part of me fears they will become mere IP management specialists, rather than game content creators. The other part of me is just glad that they may find away to reconcile D&D with Hasboro margin and growth targets.

Gary Gygax & friends invented a wonderful game. They did not, however, invent a brilliant business model.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

The Dread Pirate WoTC strikes again!

"Good night. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill (fire) you in the morning."

I guess Christmas came late to WoTC this year.


With such a reputation for employee retention, why would anyone want to work for them? /boggle

 

[Evenglare]

Whatever the reason, it certainly doesn't LOOK good to fans. It gives the impression that the game isn't doing well (whether it is or not). Wizards PR on this kind of stuff is terrible, hopefully we will hear something. I mean... it doesn't really make sense to think "WOOOO 5e is selling GREAT! Better lay off some of the staff!"

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

I don't really follow American tax forms in great detail. As hobbies go, that's pretty low on my list!

Be glad! It's like trying to translate a slaad's thoughts using the language of Modrons.

 

[Mark CMG]

Best of luck to Chris and Jennifer. I'm sure they will find work soon with WotC and D&D (and MtG) on their resumes.

In any event, I am not sure why this still surprises anyone. I am sure it doesn't surprise anyone who has or does work for WotC. Cyclical layoffs have clearly been part of the business model since Hasbro bought them. Just because they don't do the layoffs in a big lump at Christmas every year or two anymore (likely because of the bad PR it engenders) doesn't mean it is going to change. A new edition has been released and they need fewer people for their in-house projects so in deference to the shareholders they are cutting some of their overhead.

Everyone who works for WotC, particularly in creative positions, knows that WotC is not a company where you work for your whole career. They've even cut people, IIRC, not long after promoting them. Maybe that helps both WotC and the employee since that shows up as more off the overhead while giving the laid off employee a better title and salary to show while seeking work, as strange as that may sound.

 

[Evenglare]

Best of luck to Chris and Jennifer. I'm sure they will find work soon with WotC and D&D (and MtG) on their resumes.

In any event, I am not sure why this still surprises anyone.

New edition, new players. At least I hope it still surprises people, that means there are new people and our hobby is growing. As for surprising the older people? It doesn't, it just adds onto the mountain of disappointment and reputation that fans of wizards has laying off people of an already small staff. No surprise just really crappy is all.

 

[Mark CMG]

(. . .) I hope it still surprises people, that means there are new people and our hobby is growing. As for surprising the older people? It doesn't (. . .)

So the glass is half full AND half empty, not unlike the offices at WotC.

 

[Kramodlog]

Wizards seems to now be shrinking, even as it has a very successful fifth edition.

How do you know it is very successful? Did they officially announced sells figures and profite margines?