WotC has a vacancy for an Associate Game Producer on the Dungeons & Dragons team. The position is heavily linked to the management of licensed properties - both physical and digital - and deals with, amongst other things, licensee submissions. The job is, of course, located at WoTC's HQ in Renton, near Seattle. It's an interesting vacancy, with it's focus on third parties and licensees, although the exact nature of those third parties is not mentioned. However, it doesn't stop us speculating!
So the two interesting terms there are "licensees" and "submissions". So here comes the random speculation (based on no actual knowledge whatsoever!)
WotC already deals with third parties Kobold Press and Sasquatch Game Studios, but not as licensees. Those companies are better described as contracted design studios. The company also deals with Gale Force 9 and WizKids; in this case the companies are licensees, producing licensed D&D-branded products from miniatures to screens to spell cards.
The vacancy refers to licensee submissions and review, which could mean (and this is an utter wild guess) an environment in which third party licensees submit content for approval; alternatively, it might simply refer to an existing process of greenlighting product proposals from companies like GF9. Translations, also, a possibly type of licensee.
The exciting but more of a long-shot guess is that the job involves dealing with an open license of some sort, allowing third party publishers to produce content, with the submissions and review aspect referring to an approval process and store akin to Apple's app store. But that's just more of a wild hope than anything else!
Anyhow, if you're interested in a job at WotC, check out the vacancy here and see if you're qualified!
As a slight aside, as I know that layoffs are a somewhat public issue at WotC, over the years I've consistently heard from ex-WotC employees that it's worth working for them despite that. I'm told it's a wonderful working environment, with fantastic people, and even if the job is only for a few years it's a fantastic thing to put on your resume and puts you in a great position in the future; and the networking potential is tremendous - there's a reason why many of the most successful in the RPG industry operate out of or near to Seattle. Just look how many ex-WotC staff have gone on to great careers with their own companies, with Paizo, or even into videogames and the like. Then again, if you're seriously considering applying, you've thought about all this already!
So the two interesting terms there are "licensees" and "submissions". So here comes the random speculation (based on no actual knowledge whatsoever!)
WotC already deals with third parties Kobold Press and Sasquatch Game Studios, but not as licensees. Those companies are better described as contracted design studios. The company also deals with Gale Force 9 and WizKids; in this case the companies are licensees, producing licensed D&D-branded products from miniatures to screens to spell cards.
The vacancy refers to licensee submissions and review, which could mean (and this is an utter wild guess) an environment in which third party licensees submit content for approval; alternatively, it might simply refer to an existing process of greenlighting product proposals from companies like GF9. Translations, also, a possibly type of licensee.
The exciting but more of a long-shot guess is that the job involves dealing with an open license of some sort, allowing third party publishers to produce content, with the submissions and review aspect referring to an approval process and store akin to Apple's app store. But that's just more of a wild hope than anything else!
Anyhow, if you're interested in a job at WotC, check out the vacancy here and see if you're qualified!
As a slight aside, as I know that layoffs are a somewhat public issue at WotC, over the years I've consistently heard from ex-WotC employees that it's worth working for them despite that. I'm told it's a wonderful working environment, with fantastic people, and even if the job is only for a few years it's a fantastic thing to put on your resume and puts you in a great position in the future; and the networking potential is tremendous - there's a reason why many of the most successful in the RPG industry operate out of or near to Seattle. Just look how many ex-WotC staff have gone on to great careers with their own companies, with Paizo, or even into videogames and the like. Then again, if you're seriously considering applying, you've thought about all this already!
