This is the first time in a couple of years.
Layoffs happen for many different reasons at WotC. Often it is a corporate move from up high, where (as in many companies) each group has to make a certain percentage of cuts. Then the managers have to decide whether to let one-two expensive persons go or more lower-cost people go. It's always painful, and everything I hear from WotC over the years is that they have tried to keep it as amicable as possible and as positive as possible for the company. Often the people let go are ones that, by leaving, could allow the group to realign or work in new ways it could not before. In other words, that as painful as it was, the end result could be positive. And, often the person laid off kept working for Wizards as a freelancer. Rich Baker is a good example. He seemed vital to 5E (when I visited WotC back at the very start of 5E), but the edition ended up amazing just the same. And, he contributed to several efforts, including an early 5E Encounters season and very recently through Sasquatch in creating the Princes of Elemental Evil adventure (along with a host of other former WotC employees). People often come back. Chris Sims, let go today and instrumental to monster design in 4E and 5E, had been let go a while back, went to Paizo, then came back to WotC.
All of that said, layoffs have continued. They just haven't been public, sudden, and involving many people. To me, that suggests that the management of the group has been better, with forward knowledge of changes they needed to make. They made the changes over time and quietly. If we look at the past few years, they have let many people go. They just weren't always front-and-center. The big change has been staff reductions of nearly everyone involved in Editing. The two today continue that path. I can see it from a business perspective, but it also runs the risk of having your editors lose institutional knowledge. Right now, editors are often freelancers who formerly worked at WotC and now work for-hire. Okay, but if we lose that old guard, it could impact the line. We've seen times at TSR and WotC where the way they aligned people, and what those people knew (or, more importantly, what they didn't) resulted in approaches, products, and even entire lines that missed the mark. Maybe it will work out just fine. In recent years, the layoffs have worked.
These additional layoffs to an already very small team are startling. The model is so drastic a change from 4E and 3E. Is this good? Is it good for RPGs? Wizards and Paizo operate in ways no one else does. The average team at other companies is one where everyone has a second job and can weather low sales. The yearly revenue of nearly every small and medium RPG is lower than what the white box OD&D sold decades ago! Even Monte Cook Games' Numenera is below what large releases for Paizo and WotC bring in... and lower than late 70s sales numbers for D&D! It shows how messed up this hobby is.
A big question is why WotC is choosing such a different approach that Paizo. Paizo continues to increase the size of its staff. Is the revenue backing up that staff increase? Is it the model of subscriptions? In an ideal world we could know more about the complete revenue of these companies so that the hobby could learn and improve. We sadly know very little about revenues and how the models work (or fail).
On a personal level, I've worked with Chris Sims to know he's amazing. He's talented and dedicated and a tremendously awesome person. I hope he finds a good group. But, I'm also sad that I don't wish this industry on anyone, because it just doesn't provide for the people in it. Outside of a few individuals (maybe just two handfuls?) it doesn't provide enough for employees to take care of themselves and their families. That's a terrible thing and will fundamentally continue to undermine our hobby.
