Who Will Get the Axe?

[The Little Raven]

There goes a good shred of hope for the revised GSL.

We may have lost the lieutenant, but the general (aka The Rouse) is still in the fight.

 

[Lizard]

I wouldn't read too much into who was "let go" or is "pursuing other opportunities". Mass layoffs like this tend to be based on pure headcount and formulae which have little to do with "X was a good worker" or "Y caused too much trouble". When an individual "leaves to spend more time with their family", it might be due to something they alone did, but when it's a mass thing like this? Looking for motive beyond "Heads you stay, tails you go" tends to be rumormongering and schadenfreude.

Being fired sucks. Being fired right after a massively successful product launch -- which, in a logical world, would lead to rewards and bonuses and new hires -- sucks really hard.

Based on prior performance, though, look for a second round right about Christmas time. That's the usual Hasbro layoff season.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Well f(our-letter-word). There goes a good shred of hope for the revised GSL.

GSL be damned. Lidda was a damn good woman who I'm sure didn't deserve a layoff.

Lidda, if you're reading, I hope you find a good job elsewhere soon.

 

[Zaukrie]

Linnae was really nice. I only met her in person once, but she was nice. Hopefully things go well for her.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

According to the grapevine, Gamer_Zero (Mike Lescault) got the axe.

Edit: It's confirmed according to Solice, the new community manager over at the WotC boards.

I still find it ironic that he was a community manager with WotC, but suffered from one of the worst community reputations with Mythic on Dark Age of Camelot (reference "Mackey" Lescault).

[[edited private information out]]

 

[Traycor]

Well f(our-letter-word). There goes a good shred of hope for the revised GSL.

There's still hope. The Rouse posted this just yesterday on the WotC boards:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=16639017&postcount=182

 

[Henry]

We may have lost the lieutenant, but the general (aka The Rouse) is still in the fight.

For Now. That's what worries me about cutbacks like this - someone you think is pretty well entrenched there suddenly starts giving autoreplies like what Russ got from Linae.

Sad thing, too - Linae has been one of the best presences out there for putting a public face on WotC after the 2006 public relations debacle. My concern is we'll go right back to the people who actually interact with the fans just disappearing and the company going silent again like two years ago.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I am still here and still revising the GSL.

 

[helium3]

In my experience layoffs and reorgs usually either mean the company isn't hitting its target numbers or the company is undergoing a major change, such as a merger or a sale. I doubt WotC is getting sold (though hope spring eternal) or merged. With Hasbro, it isn't hard for a brand to not perform up to expectations. I have no clue what brands are ailing at the moment, but it will be interesting once we start hearing who gets cut.

I'm guessing that the bulk of people getting laid off were those directly involved in Gleemax and the other product lines that are getting the axe.

Haven't heard about Linae and Gamer Zero getting laid off yet, though.

 

[davethegame]

That's really a shame... I met Mike at GenCon just one week ago, and he seemed like a really nice guy, and very honest. And he was doing all their video coverage too! Poor timing, to say the least. And Linae was always really nice and active around here. I wish them both the best in their next job.