[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.

 

[Evenglare]

Speculation gained from pretty much every RPG site on the net, at least that's how I see it. Its much more well recieved than 4e ever was at launch (and i love 4e). It's not really hard to make that jump. Maybe it did bomb but it doesn't seem like it has.

 

[Mistwell]

Ans this is why it bothers me that people act like they know this is a layoff when they do not know that.

In decades as an attorney who dealt with employment matters, roughly half were for reasons other than a layoff.

In a decade as someone who runs a small business of 30 people, roughly half the people I've let go were for reasons other than a layoff.

I get it, WOTC has a reputation for cyclical layoffs. I understand why that would be the first thing that comes to mind. What I don't understand is why, after it comes to mind, people conclude with certainty that is what happened. And then they jump to a series of other unsupported conclusions, like it's meaning for sales, it's meaning for business plans, it's meaning for future publishing plans, it's meaning for departments, etc..

If someone who is in the know comes out and says this is a layoff, either one of these two people or someone at WOTC or someone who talks to one of those people, comes out and says this is a layoff, then OK. But until that happens - I just don't think it's wise to assume you know what happened.

Right now, here is what I know unless someone with better knowledge says different, "The details are unclear, but D&D editor Chris Sims has reported that he is now in need of a job...and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes is in the same boat".

I feel bad for the two of them. I don't know why they are no longer employed at WOTC, but I know being unemployed is hard. I wish them luck.

 

[Evenglare]

It doesn't matter WHAT happened, it rarely does. And yeah, it sucks but it's publicity. When bad stuff happens like this and other similar stuff has happened that's what people jump to, whether or not it's the truth. You have to manage this stuff because crap like this spreads like wildfire and the perception of the company is affected, again no matter what is actually happening. Like I said it's easy to jump to conclusions when you start thinking about it. Again it doesn't make sense to say "Wizards did GREAT with 5e, it's selling AMAZINGLY! Let's lay off our staff!". Makes no sense, so whatever DID happen, doesn't matter, it LOOKS bad and that's something that needs to be addressed quickly by the company. Unfortunately if I were to guess what's going to happen, I'd say wizards isn't going to say a damn thing about it if the past is any indication.

So I agree with you, maybe its something else. Maybe it's not what we think. Sad fact is that it rarely matters in this case. Look at project morning star. We have no idea what happened there, but when they severed connections with wizards and they tried to make a comeback the negative perception had already spread and the nails in the coffin began to be hammered as made evident by their kickstarter. Public relations needs to be made by these companies and few take it seriously from what I have seen. They rather keep quiet than explain what has happened.

 

[wrenofwar]

...Maybe it did bomb but it doesn't seem like it has.

It did well. They didn't release numbers but in their 10-Q for the quarter ended this September (which means only the PHB and MM had released and not for very long) they cite the brand as one of their revenue makers.

"In the quarter, higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, SIMON, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS and OPERATION products were only partially offset by lower net revenues from other games brands, particularly BOP IT!, DUEL MASTERS and JENGA. In the first nine months of 2014, higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, SIMON, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, ELEFUN & FRIENDS and OPERATION products were more than offset by lower net revenues from other games brands, particularly BOP IT!, DUEL MASTERS, JENGA and TWISTER."

and

"The games category benefited from higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, SIMON, CONNECT 4 and OPERATION products in both the quarter and nine-month periods ended September 28, 2014."

So now we don't have to speculate on the profitability. I'm a (admittedly young) CPA and tax attorney, but it seems like they just don't need all those employees for the amount of products they are planning on putting out. I would rather any excess talented staff be let go than kept on if they aren't needed. Why? Because I would prefer them to apply their talent where it would most benefit the RPG community instead of staying salaried at WotC where there isn't enough D&D work to go around. Likewise, I would rather WotC allocate their budget to more essential areas (would some money spent on publicity and advertising hurt?) than spend it on staff they don't need. And the poster who mentioned it isn't fair to compare D&D's head count to Piazo's is absolutely right. Not every Piazo staffer is a game designer, they need accountants, management and such that D&D has access to with WotC and Hasbro.

The brand we should be worried about appears to be Jenga. From the financial statements, their revenues seem to be falling. I don't know how long they can stand up to the competition. Jenga's business model is certainly unstable.

 

[Mark CMG]

The brand we should be worried about appears to be Jenga. From the financial statements, their revenues seem to be falling. I don't know how long they can stand up to the competition. Jenga's business model is certainly unstable.

Too many knock-offs?

 

[Mistwell]

It did well. They didn't release numbers but in their 10-Q for the quarter ended this September (which means only the PHB and MM had released and not for very long) they cite the brand as one of their revenue makers.

"In the quarter, higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, SIMON, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS and OPERATION products were only partially offset by lower net revenues from other games brands, particularly BOP IT!, DUEL MASTERS and JENGA. In the first nine months of 2014, higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, SIMON, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, ELEFUN & FRIENDS and OPERATION products were more than offset by lower net revenues from other games brands, particularly BOP IT!, DUEL MASTERS, JENGA and TWISTER."

and

"The games category benefited from higher net revenues from MONOPOLY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, SIMON, CONNECT 4 and OPERATION products in both the quarter and nine-month periods ended September 28, 2014."

So now we don't have to speculate on the profitability. I'm a (admittedly young) CPA and tax attorney, but it seems like they just don't need all those employees for the amount of products they are planning on putting out. I would rather any excess talented staff be let go than kept on if they aren't needed. Why? Because I would prefer them to apply their talent where it would most benefit the RPG community instead of staying salaried at WotC where there isn't enough D&D work to go around. Likewise, I would rather WotC allocate their budget to more essential areas (would some money spent on publicity and advertising hurt?) than spend it on staff they don't need. And the poster who mentioned it isn't fair to compare D&D's head count to Piazo's is absolutely right. Not every Piazo staffer is a game designer, they need accountants, management and such that D&D has access to with WotC and Hasbro.

The brand we should be worried about appears to be Jenga. From the financial statements, their revenues seem to be falling. I don't know how long they can stand up to the competition. Jenga's business model is certainly unstable.

Wow, in all these years of official reports I've never once seen Hasbro credit D&D for increased revenues by name.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I wish both Chris and Jennifer all the best.

And in wishing them all the best, I hope they find a job outside this "industry".

 

[Grainger]

It does seem crazy that I can go into the small town near where I live and buy a Starter Box (from a chain book shop), and yet the number of people working in the industry is so tiny. For a product with relatively large distribution/availability, that just seems out of whack to me, but I guess if you spend a lot of time on a forum, the subject you're discussing seems far more popular than it really is.

From the discussion upthread it seems the biggest two RPG companies, Wizards and Paizo, have about 30-50 employees between them (in D&D's case, presumably it shares resources with Wizards as a whole so its staffing numbers would be higher if it just produced RPGs). Presumably, all other RPG companies have much lower staffing levels, if they even have dedicated full-time staff, so the total industry is tiny. I guess Fantasy Flight might have some dedicated people, but AFAIK they work on other games. Steve Jackson Games makes its money from Munchkin, not GURPS...

Pretty depressing that there's no money in our global hobby, and hence next-to-zero chance of making a living in the industry, and that it seems TSR in the 70s and 80s was riding a fad, not something that's repeatable, so even if they hadn't mis-managed it, they were never going to remain at that size. I guess a mega-successful D&D movie could turn things around hugely, but other than that... Maybe another "D&D is evil" type scandal...?

 

[Queer Venger]

I believe that White Wolf games (now Onyx Path under CCP) has 2 or 3 staff. I think in their heyday they boasted about 1 or 2 dozen.

 

[Erik Mona]

There is, indeed, money in our tiny industry.