State of the Corp - December 2000

by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes

Two words: Systematic Layoffs.

That's the grim news out of HQ this month, as declining sales caused Hasbro to reduce its staff across all divisions (including WotC) and sell some properties. While I survived the cuts, this is the death knell for any official Corporate support for the "classic" games - especially with the departure of Peter Adkison, who was passionate about supporting customers of those lines.

However.

There have been numerous inquiries about outside sublicensing of the game, which I hope will be appealing to R. Talsorian (they have the final say). Wizards is quite willing to grant permissions, and I still hold out hope that a small independent publisher may be able to keep this great game alive.

As always, I have some supplies to help support players (including rulebooks for "Neal," if you're reading this) and will keep providing what I can as long as they hold out.

What with the new century just around the corner, we are entering the Cyberpunk world. Seems like a good time for international competition. World Domination, anyone?

Best wishes and hopeful thoughts for this holiday season and the coming new year!

- "Jen of Arc"