WotC Chris Cao has left WotC

[darjr]

Ben Riggs shared that Chris Cao has left WotC.

Magic the Gathering. Dungeons & Dragons.


What an honor it's been to work on games that changed my creative life, inspired me to chase this career, and allowed me to work with so many great people. It's been a genuine privilege to have contributed to the digital transformation of these legendary brands alongside such talented teams. Time to adventure onward!

 

[Alzrius]

Not who I expected to leave WotC next, with how important the digital aspect of things is to them.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Not who I expected to leave WotC next, with how important the digital aspect of things is to them.

Hmm. Yeah, seems to be some shuffling going on. I wonder what's up, and if the company will come out stronger or weaker in the near term.

 

[Zardnaar]

Waiting on the D&D is dying video.

 

[DEFCON 1]

@mearls mentioned in the other thread that he thought there was an After-55 early retirement option being offered by WotC (which might explain CP's exit), and while I do not know how old Chris Cao is... his image icon does give the impression he could be of age to also take WotC up on their offer.

WotC might be offering packages to longer-term employees in order to get their salaries cleared from their books, and then replace them with lower-salaried newer employees going forward (to save money rather than using their traditional lay-offs.)

 

[DEFCON 1]

The US tariff situation might be a big roadblock for Hasbro solvency right now and perhaps they're taking steps to set themselves up to try and weather the storm?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Probably related to Sigil stuff, he was pretty active on the Sigil Discord.

 

[Chaltab]

For what it's worth, the insider talk was that Cao was behind a lot of the bad decisions WOTC made with the OGL crisis and was one of the driving forces behind the Sigil VTT... so with both those initiatives DOA it's not surprising he's out. Has to find something else he can egregiously monetize.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Probably related to Sigil stuff, he was pretty active on the Sigil Discord.

I was wrong about this, he has not been active there since January. There is another Chris C there who is unrelated and still employed there.

 

[AlViking]

@mearls mentioned in the other thread that he thought there was an After-55 early retirement option being offered by WotC (which might explain CP's exit), and while I do not know how old Chris Cao is... his image icon does give the impression he could be of age to also take WotC up on their offer.

WotC might be offering packages to longer-term employees in order to get their salaries cleared from their books, and then replace them with lower-salaried newer employees going forward (to save money rather than using their traditional lay-offs.)

This kind of thing is pretty common for corporations that want to downsize a bit without layoffs. In this case? Maybe it would be good to bring in some new people with a fresh take on things.

I like the rules for the most part but perhaps a set of campaign world modules in an original setting might benefit with new blood.