Paizo lays off twelve employees and blames Diamond bankruptcy

Paizo, the publisher of Pathfinder and Starfinder, has laid off 12 workers and will reduce its product catalog. The company claims losses of nearly $2 million due to the bankruptcy of its distributor Diamond. However, this crisis comes after years of outsourcing risks, while executives maintain their bonuses. The concentration of distribution in few hands leaves employees as the only ones affected.

Paizo office floor, twelve empty desks with monitors showing canceled product orders, a single manager holding a bonus check while a Diamond distribution truck crashes outside the window, stacks of Pathfinder rulebooks falling from shelves, employees boxing personal items, dramatic overhead lighting casting long shadows over scattered Starfinder miniatures, photorealistic corporate crisis scene, visible tension in postures, shattered glass reflecting red warning lights, realistic office clutter with keyboards and dice trays, cinematic documentary style

Outsourcing risks and distribution concentration 📦

Paizo has for years delegated logistics and storage to distributors like Diamond, avoiding investment in its own infrastructure. This strategy reduces fixed costs but exposes the company to the ups and downs of a sector where two or three wholesalers control the market. When one goes bankrupt, the blow is not absorbed by executives with guaranteed bonuses, but by the staff. The result is fewer products in stores, but prices do not drop.

Fewer dice, same price: the miracle of the round table 🎲

The citizen will see fewer Pathfinder supplements on the shelves, but prices will remain as firm as a stone golem. Because, of course, if you reduce supply and keep the same price, the fault lies with the distributor, not the margin strategy. Meanwhile, executives count their bonuses with twenty-sided dice. After all, the next game is paid for by the employees.