The timing of their departure was also deliberate, as both waited for the newly revised core rulebooks to come out before leaving the D&D team. "They wanted to make sure that [the core rulebooks were really successful, that they were setting up all of the future leads for success," Lanzillo said. "That has happened, and they feel really reassured that the folks in place will be able to carry on with the wonderful legacy that they've given us, and then bring their own stuff to the table, which they've already been doing."
Screen Rant also confirmed with Lanzillo that both Perkins and Crawford's departures were on their terms and not part of some wider corporate move. "It's one of those things where you finished a major keystone creative project and you do ask yourself, 'Okay, do I have the next one in me for right now? Do I want to do something a little bit different?'" Lanzillo said. "I think any creative can identify with that."
I'm sad to see Crawford go alongside Perkins. The last couple of years were likely a lot. Wishing both of them the best and looking forward to more 5e books this year.
Two big losses for the franchise, but they certainly both earned their retirements, and I fully understand wanting to go out on a bang, with your last major contribution being something so critical as a new set of core books.
I am really glad to see the article talks about elevating figures within the existing D&D team, as opposed to trying to hire from the outside. Perkins and Crawford are both titans in the industry, but there are also lots of other great designers on the team. It should prove interesting to see what happens as they take more directive control over the game, and I am excited to see what they might come up with.
I was not all that shocked that Chris Perkins was retiring, dude has been on the job longer than I have been alive. I am shocked that both are going though.
Two big losses for the franchise, but they certainly both earned their retirements, and I fully understand wanting to go out on a bang, with your last major contribution being something so critical as a new set of core books.
I am really glad to see the article talks about elevating figures within the existing D&D team, as opposed to trying to hire from the outside. Perkins and Crawford are both titans in the industry, but there are also lots of other great designers on the team. It should prove interesting to see what happens as they take more directive control over the game, and I am excited to see what they might come up with.
If nothing else this should mean a lot more Makenzie de Armas in our futures 😃
Although now she will have to deal with Todd Kenreck's barrage of dad jokes and the ensuing psychic damage!
There was this interesting post on enworld by Mike Mearls about Perkins retiring. He was saying that if you’re a game designer in other contexts (video games, board games, etc.), once you ship your product, you can go and work on something completely new and different. But working at D&D, now they’ve published this rule set, what left for them? Stick around and design a new feat? So it made sense they’re ready to move on to something different.
Personally, I’d love it if they got together and published something that was either, here’s what ‘24 would have been if we didn’t have to maintain backwards compatibility, or here’s what we do when we don’t have 50 years worth of tradition and sacred cows to protect. I’d buy either of those. I can’t say I’d play it until I saw it, but I’d definitely buy it.
There’s been some rumours going around that Hasbro has been offering a really tempting early retirement package which is why we’ve seen this flurry of people leaving.
On topic I’ll be sad to see them both go. They’ve been the familiar face of the game I’ve come to love the last few years and I’ve always found both Perkins and Crawford charming and entertaining to watch. As others have said I’m pleased to hear they’re possibly promoting internally because there’s a lot of talent and passion there and id love to see what they can do once they’re in the driving seat
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Been giving this a bit more thought, I have a lot of respect for Crawford stepping down at this time. Crawford himself shared concerns about D&D stagnating due to a top-heavy design team with many old guard figures dominating the scene. He even explicitly noted that he was part of that problem.
In hindsight, maybe we should not be too surprised he stepped down. Now is exactly the right time to do so, if he wants to put his actions where his mouth is. You need lots of internal knowledge for releasing a rules update, so he kind of had to stay on through that… but now they are in the easier stage - content creation built on top of that foundation. By stepping down now, particularly alongside the other Titan of D&D rules, Crawford is giving the next generation of developers a full 8 or so years to get development leadership experience, putting the future of D&D development and leadership in a good position as we approach the 2030s and whatever rules update might occur then.
It's important to keep in mind that devs/designers leaving after a major product release is actually fairly common within the games industry as a whole, so sentiments of "rats feeling a sinking ship" might be somewhat ignorant of that actual nature of the industry. As a general rule, creatives leaving during a project is a bad sign, leaving after a project is normal. JC has 17 years on D&D and Perkins has 28. That's a loooong time in the games industry and combined they also have as much time in D&D as the game has been around. Them both retiring from D&D/WotC after the 2024 rules release seems like the most logical time to do so, they've shepherded D&Ds most successful edition to date through a major overhaul after a decade.
If that’s aimed at me then “people retiring are getting a great pension after completing massive under taking” is hardly a conspiracy
It was more aimed at the people I assume you were referencing with, "There’s been some rumours going around..."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
https://screenrant.com/jeremy-crawford-chris-perkins-leaving-dnd-interview/
I was not expecting this
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Before the conspiracies start
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I'm sad to see Crawford go alongside Perkins. The last couple of years were likely a lot. Wishing both of them the best and looking forward to more 5e books this year.
Two big losses for the franchise, but they certainly both earned their retirements, and I fully understand wanting to go out on a bang, with your last major contribution being something so critical as a new set of core books.
I am really glad to see the article talks about elevating figures within the existing D&D team, as opposed to trying to hire from the outside. Perkins and Crawford are both titans in the industry, but there are also lots of other great designers on the team. It should prove interesting to see what happens as they take more directive control over the game, and I am excited to see what they might come up with.
I was not all that shocked that Chris Perkins was retiring, dude has been on the job longer than I have been alive. I am shocked that both are going though.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Wish they’d taken the revisions with them, but they did a lot of great work before 2024. Sad end of an era
2024If nothing else this should mean a lot more Makenzie de Armas in our futures 😃
Although now she will have to deal with Todd Kenreck's barrage of dad jokes and the ensuing psychic damage!
There was this interesting post on enworld by Mike Mearls about Perkins retiring. He was saying that if you’re a game designer in other contexts (video games, board games, etc.), once you ship your product, you can go and work on something completely new and different. But working at D&D, now they’ve published this rule set, what left for them? Stick around and design a new feat? So it made sense they’re ready to move on to something different.
Personally, I’d love it if they got together and published something that was either, here’s what ‘24 would have been if we didn’t have to maintain backwards compatibility, or here’s what we do when we don’t have 50 years worth of tradition and sacred cows to protect.
I’d buy either of those. I can’t say I’d play it until I saw it, but I’d definitely buy it.
There’s been some rumours going around that Hasbro has been offering a really tempting early retirement package which is why we’ve seen this flurry of people leaving.
On topic I’ll be sad to see them both go. They’ve been the familiar face of the game I’ve come to love the last few years and I’ve always found both Perkins and Crawford charming and entertaining to watch. As others have said I’m pleased to hear they’re possibly promoting internally because there’s a lot of talent and passion there and id love to see what they can do once they’re in the driving seat
Well, you tried
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If that’s aimed at me then “people retiring are getting a great pension after completing massive under taking” is hardly a conspiracy
Been giving this a bit more thought, I have a lot of respect for Crawford stepping down at this time. Crawford himself shared concerns about D&D stagnating due to a top-heavy design team with many old guard figures dominating the scene. He even explicitly noted that he was part of that problem.
In hindsight, maybe we should not be too surprised he stepped down. Now is exactly the right time to do so, if he wants to put his actions where his mouth is. You need lots of internal knowledge for releasing a rules update, so he kind of had to stay on through that… but now they are in the easier stage - content creation built on top of that foundation. By stepping down now, particularly alongside the other Titan of D&D rules, Crawford is giving the next generation of developers a full 8 or so years to get development leadership experience, putting the future of D&D development and leadership in a good position as we approach the 2030s and whatever rules update might occur then.
I don't know if that was aimed at you, I don't think so, but I do know the usual youtubers are all over it. Gotta get those clicks!
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
It's bittersweet for sure, but great timing for them overall.
I've watched the game go on and thrive after Gygax left. After Zeb Cook left. After Monte, Jonathan, and Skip left. Even after the 4e team left.
In each case, it was cause for concern and fuel for conspiracy.
In each case, the game went on. New people came forward to lead the charge to adventure.
I'm confident that it will happen again, and the new (and sometimes old) team that takes the reins will do the game justice.
Really not liking how people keep saying "Rats are leaving the sinking ship" with a gleeful connotation.
There's a lot of chaos actors & vigilante white knights doing this line on behalf of rival games/companies.
Be wary of "hot" takes.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
I hope they find their passions elsewhere.
In the meantime I can't help but get a feeling of rats fleeing a sinking ship.
It's important to keep in mind that devs/designers leaving after a major product release is actually fairly common within the games industry as a whole, so sentiments of "rats feeling a sinking ship" might be somewhat ignorant of that actual nature of the industry. As a general rule, creatives leaving during a project is a bad sign, leaving after a project is normal. JC has 17 years on D&D and Perkins has 28. That's a loooong time in the games industry and combined they also have as much time in D&D as the game has been around. Them both retiring from D&D/WotC after the 2024 rules release seems like the most logical time to do so, they've shepherded D&Ds most successful edition to date through a major overhaul after a decade.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Perhaps disconnect from conspiratorial mindsets & petty rivalries between fandoms to remove that feeling?
It's good for the mind.
People say the exact same thing every time a shakeup happens. It never does.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
It was more aimed at the people I assume you were referencing with, "There’s been some rumours going around..."
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
When a product does not do well in corporations, they tend to remove the executives in charge.