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| marcr |
 Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 9:45 am Post subject: LAYOFFS AT WOTC ... |
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Joined: 19 May 2008
Posts: 369
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Not sure who knows about this yet (probably many of you ...) but there have apparently been some pretty big D&D related lay offs at Wizards of the Coast, including some very shocking names. There are threads about this at EnWorld and Paizo.com.
From an EnWorld post:
"Here are the names I have confirmed as of a few minutes ago:
Randy Buehler (VP of digital gaming)
Andrew Finch (director of digital games)
Stacy Longstreet (senior art director)
Julia Martin (editor)
William Meyers (creative manager, digital design)
Dave Noonan (game designer)
Jennifer Paige (online community manager)
Jennifer Powers (marketing)
Jonathan Tweet (game designer)
-Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo Publishing"
All I can say is ... wow. I can't help but wonder what, if anything, this says about how 4E is really doing? |
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| varianor |
| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:53 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 06 Jan 2008
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| Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet? Not surprising, but definitely sad. WotC makes a habit of firing its older and/or higher paid designers every year or so. |
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| Watcher |
| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Posts: 1625
Location: Your TARDIS
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| A pretty strident comment was made by Monte Cook in the aforementioned thread. |
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| deinol |
| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 380
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| Can we manage to snag any of those fine minds to help out on an open design project? I know its been said two projects at once can't happen again without a guest as the lead on one, but I really like the idea of having a 4e and a 3e project going at the same time. I'd be in a position to senior patron two projects come January. |
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5010
Location: The Mines
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Jonathan Tweet is the man who hired me at WotC, back when they were small and expanding rapidly. I am still in a bit of shock that he has been laid off.
Julia Martin is a friend and fellow TSR alum I've known for .... 15 years? With her departure, the Realms knowledge base takes a huge hit. Her professional skills are strong, and I know she'll bounce back but this totally sucks.
SO with that said, approaching them for Open Design work now seems sort of ghoulish and inappropriate to me. Layoffs are a shock, and it might be better to put something together with them in the new year.
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Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
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| bloodcookie |
| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm actually most surprised to see Randy Buehler on that list; I had perceived him to be something of a "face man," at least for certain divisions of the company. |
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| hedgeknight |
| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:46 am Post subject: |
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Unable to view the other threads mentioned above due to internet restrictions at work (don't know how I can get to THIS forum; just counting my blessings), so I'll have to take a look when I get home.
WOTC...is hurting like everybody else, I'd imagine. And I'm somewhat ashamed that they are. I don't like what they (as a whole) have done to the game, so to hear that perhaps they have a loss in revenue makes me feel good. But when people you know are losing their jobs...well, that's just not right.
So, I'm kinda torn about this news. A part of me is glad that WOTC is hurting and another part of me is sad that they are losing some great people. |
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| Zherog |
| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
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| bloodcookie wrote: |
| I'm actually most surprised to see Randy Buehler on that list; I had perceived him to be something of a "face man," at least for certain divisions of the company. |
Hmmm... Randy's name didn't surprise me at all, to be honest. This round seems to be as much about the failure of WotC's digital initiatives (especially Gleemax) as anything. Many of the people on the list were associated, one way or another, with the digital offerings. Gleemax was (unfortunately) a train wreck. The DDI is late on many of he tools - especially the game table, which may just be the most anticipated tool.
Given that, it doesn't seem too surprising to me that Randy's name was on the list. Being laid off blows chunks - I can tell you from personal experience. (though at least I was laid off in April, rather than around the holidays.) For me, though, it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me in my professional career. Hopefully, the same thing happens for these folks.
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John Ling
Freelance Writer
Kobold Fan |
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| CharlesMarkley |
| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| kunger00 |
| Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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| Wolfgang wrote: |
Jonathan Tweet is the man who hired me at WotC, back when they were small and expanding rapidly. I am still in a bit of shock that he has been laid off.
Julia Martin is a friend and fellow TSR alum I've known for .... 15 years? With her departure, the Realms knowledge base takes a huge hit. Her professional skills are strong, and I know she'll bounce back but this totally sucks.
SO with that said, approaching them for Open Design work now seems sort of ghoulish and inappropriate to me. Layoffs are a shock, and it might be better to put something together with them in the new year. |
Ya. Jonathan Tweet and Julia Martin definitely shock me. (I sadly do not follow close enough to know the other names...)
However, the lay-offs themselves do not shock me. Wizkids shut down last month.
I know that WotC and Wizkids don't make the same types of games... but having seen the closing and locking of the doors at Wizkids I am less shocked by the lay offs from WotC. |
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| Jaye |
| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:23 pm Post subject: Wow |
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Joined: 18 Apr 2008
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Location: Just south of Siwal; State of Kuwait
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I must be really out of the loop, because I didn't realize so many big names left WoTC.
That being said, I think that both Monte Cook and Wolfgang have proven that you can go out, create awesome games, and market them to your very own audience if you elect to. In fact, (and I don't recall where I read this, so bare with me) there is a socio-economic model that suggested a self-employed artist would only need to create a small circle of loyal fans (about a 1000 IIRC) able to purchase about $50-$100 a year worth of goods to make a decent livelihood.
Of course, this doesn't take into account things like insurance, 401ks, retirement, and building a steady employment portfolio for the credit system.
The point is, great minds just go out and make things happen. I trust all those that left WoTC will do just that. I wish them all my best.
Cheers,
Jaye |
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