Layoffs at WotC

Bleak tidings indeed. The exact numbers have yet to surface from the latest tremblor to strike the hobby game industry, but it includes a number of extremely valuable and talented designers and editors, including Realms-alum and good friend Julia Martin.

It has been a frustrating season. WotC had a previous layoff in August. Upper Deck has shed 60 people, WizKids has closed up their Seattle operation. Mattel lost 1000 people The grim, invisible hand of the modern marketplace seems hell-bent to turn the hobby game industry back into a hobby.

I may have snarky comments later - for the moment I have nothing but concern and sympathy for those who have been affected.

More later,

Update: Forget to mention the earlier Upper Deck Layoffs, the announced purchase of the bankruptcy-protected GenCon which may be a hostile takeover, and, oh yeah, that White Wolf's new parent company is based in Iceland, which has gone economically casters-up.

And the publishing world isn't offering much of a safe haven, with Houghton Mifflin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster are all shedding jobs and rearranging plans. Not that they get the benefit of government hearings of bailouts.

Sigh.