Current size of RPG companies

Jason D · November 29, 2009, 08:22:35 AM

Quote from: Akrasia;345334They list seven people on their webpage:
http://catalog.chaosium.com/pages.php?CDpath=1
It's not clear if any are full time.

Charlie is full-time. Lynn retired. Dustin and William are part-time. Not sure about Nick, Fergie, or Meghan, but I suspect they're part-time.

ggroy · December 04, 2009, 03:11:22 PM

Quote from: Joethelawyer;345282You think they're overworked now? They haven't had their annual Christmas firings yet....

Quote from: RPGPundit;345300We shall see, soon.

RPGPundit

According to the rumor mill,

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/268912-wizards-coast-layoffs-rob-heinsoo-logan-bonner-chris-sims.html

two of the previously mentioned overworked WotC designers, Rob Heinsoo and Logon Bonner, and another overworked designer Chris Sims, are being let go this xmas.

http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=345280&postcount=5

Chris Sims' name shows up on: Marauders of the Dune Sea, Seekers of the Ashen Crown, Monster Manual 2, Death's Reach E1, Demon Queen's Enclave P2, Martial Power, Adventurer's Vault 1, Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.

RPGPundit · December 06, 2009, 10:29:51 AM

Over on ENworld, Lisa Stevens, the CEO of Paizo, said that her company has 26 employees, and that:

QuoteIf you noticed, WotC had 2000 employees back when they had a) retail stores and b) Pokemon. From what I have heard, WotC is somewhere around 150 to 200 total employees, maybe even less. White Wolf is somewhere around Paizo's size, and perhaps a bit less. Steve Jackson has less employees than Paizo last I heard. Games Workshop is probably the company who is most likely to be the same size as WotC, but I doubt anybody else breaks 100. Or even 50. We tend to use a lot of contractors to do art and edit and legal and such. And work really, really hard. This industry is much smaller than most people give it credit for. And most consumers' estimations of company size are from data that is 10 or more years old. Not that there is that much good data to be had out there. i hope this enlightens a little better.

-Lisa

RPGPundit

Windjammer · December 06, 2009, 10:33:06 AM

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/268945-forked-wizards-coast-layoffs-industry-size.html

Read page 1 of the thread and watch Paizo's CEO Lisa Stevens go for it!

QuoteWhile Chris is spot on that nobody is really the size of Wizards in both market share and number of employees, I do want to point out that Paizo has 26 full-time employees (and we are hiring still) who work in our 7,000 square foot office with a 16,000 square -foot warehouse. They get very competitive salaries and Paizo pays all of their medical and dental insurance as well as that of their spouses/domestic partners and their children. I just don't want people to think that Paizo is some sort of fly-by-night company working out of somebody's garage. We have a full-time accountant, two customer service reps, two warehouse guys, and a heck of a lot of full-time designers. WotC may be the 800 lb. gorilla in this industry, but Paizo is at least a 400 lb. gorilla.

Btw, I was the first employee at WotC back in 1991, so I know a bit about growing companies. At one point, when we had the retail stores, WotC employed almost 2,000 people.

There are a lot of companies being run as people's hobbies in this industry. Heck, that is how both White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast got started, but Paizo is the full-time job of 26 very talented people, who don't have time for hobbies!

-Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo

And a follow up from herself (same thread):

Quote
QuoteI normaly think small basment start ups as haveing 100-1,000 or so employees... the fact that wotc and you guys are so small really speaks volumes...

how many poeple are employeed in this feaild total? 5,000 maybe... most likly less...

Heck In collage I was a manager of a local pizza hut...I had 24 employees (about 15 full timers and about 9 parttimers) under me...so counting me we had a pizza shop with one less person then your whole company...

I just assumed that piazo had atleast 100 full timers... but I guess it makes sense...
Actually, you are still way high. If you noticed, WotC had 2000 employees back when they had a) retail stores and b) Pokemon. From what I have heard, WotC is somewhere around 150 to 200 total employees, maybe even less. White Wolf is somewhere around Paizo's size, and perhaps a bit less. Steve Jackson has less employees than Paizo last I heard. Games Workshop is probably the company who is most likely to be the same size as WotC, but I doubt anybody else breaks 100. Or even 50. We tend to use a lot of contractors to do art and edit and legal and such. And work really, really hard. This industry is much smaller than most people give it credit for. And most consumers' estimations of company size are from data that is 10 or more years old. Not that there is that much good data to be had out there. i hope this enlightens a little better.

-Lisa

Last night I met a couple from Seattle (the guy is in my regular D&D group though his spouse isn't; nor is their daughter). They customarily refer to WotC as a company that "went under". It's not that they are terribly well informed using online sources (to the contrary). What they mean, I surmise, is that in their perception WotC more or less went out of existence the moment they killed their retail stores.

One Horse Town · December 06, 2009, 10:47:49 AM

Wow, there has been some back-stabbing in the biz recently. Paizo continue to put the boot into WoTC because their gravy-train was taken away with the release of 4e, then FFG intimate very strongly that Green Ronin harbour sour grapes over the WFRP license changeover.

Fighting over scraps springs to mind.

ggroy · December 06, 2009, 10:53:48 AM

Quote from: One Horse Town;346844Fighting over scraps springs to mind.

Monte Cook mentions this in

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mc_los_161

Seanchai · December 06, 2009, 11:55:16 AM

"I never want to go back to a place where another company can tell me what I can or can't do with their IP."

Ah, irony, thy name is Lisa Stevens.

Seanchai

ggroy · December 06, 2009, 12:14:23 PM

Quote from: Seanchai;346848"I never want to go back to a place where another company can tell me what I can or can't do with their IP."

Ah, irony, thy name is Lisa Stevens.

Seanchai

That's the faustian bargain one makes, when playing in somebody else's IP sandbox. One can be kicked out at any time, for just about any reason.

It's a lot different than one's own IP.

This isn't a recent thing either. Going back about two decades ago, the Star Trek IP owners abruptly yanked the Star Trek rpg license from FASA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_RPG_%28FASA%29#Controversy

greylond · December 06, 2009, 05:09:41 PM

Kenzer&Co: 3 Paid Employees.

A few more Designers/Writers who are Stockholders and/or Board of Directors members.

JollyRB · December 09, 2009, 04:59:18 AM

Quote from: greylond;346893Kenzer&Co: 3 Paid Employees.

A few more Designers/Writers who are Stockholders and/or Board of Directors members.

We've been at that level since 2003 or so when we changed our business model. I think we had 15+ employees at the time. I much prefer working with freelancers rather than full time writers and being a slave as far as having to come up with a new log (good or bad) to throw on the fire each month in order to cover overhead.

We now have the luxury to work on the projects we WANT to work on and take a bit of time as opposed to shoveling half-baked product on the pile.

I much prefer KenzerCo as a smaller/leaner company than I did when we were going gangbusters and had our hands in everything. Focusing on two or three core product lines as opposed to a dozen is just about perfect I think.

jrients · December 09, 2009, 08:55:50 AM

"Paizo is the full-time job of 26 very talented people, who don't have time for hobbies!"

Dang. I had thought they were gamers.

kythri · December 09, 2009, 10:58:11 AM

Quote from: jrients;347541"Paizo is the full-time job of 26 very talented people, who don't have time for hobbies!"

Dang. I had thought they were gamers.

I think she meant that kind of tongue-in-cheek, as in "we're not a hobby publisher, we're a full-time gig."