Several were rather shocked today to learn that Microsoft has all but purchased Zenimax media (owners/operators of ID software that are in turn responsible for Quake, Doom, the ID tech engine and more besides), Bethesda (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), makers of Wolfenstein, Dishonored and many others. https://gbatemp.net/threads/update-microsoft-announces-acquisition-of-bethesda.574161/ has more on that.
While not necessarily a stat or trend Shigeru Miyamoto's quite famous comment on Tetris illustrates another. When asked by Nintendo's president whether Tetris was any good he say yes, pressed further he replied that all the president's secretaries and accountants were playing it (games at the time being a rather more nerdy pursuit, not necessarily the domain of such people, especially not all of them).
https://gamesrelated.com/shigeru-miyamoto-weighs-in-on-tetris/
Do you know who the first American to learn of Stalin's death was? Johnny Cash (as in the legendary singer). He was working signals at the time and it is held he was first to know. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016...e-first-american-to-hear-about-stalins-death/ . You are also welcome for the points in the pub quiz at some point in the future.
Anyway probably best not to break a NDA but there are many of us here that sit in companies and government departments watching numbers roll by, analyse things of our own accord, have cameras in various places, shuffle things in warehouses and otherwise be in places where if you are paying attention you might see something before it becomes widely known.
For instance in the warehouse stuff did you see massive stockpiles of a new, or perhaps existing, product arrive and get shipped out quicker than you usually expect to see such things go. Normally such things in discussions around here are someone took a sneaky photograph of a palette of games or console boxes but bigger trends are another.
If you are on the computers you might see emails when fixing things (or be "aware" of everything).
If you are security you might have had to sign someone in that meant big changes were afoot.
Were you part of an advance team send to value things or work on a deal, or indeed one to negotiate it?
If you made a living slinging lead then were your boots on the ground rather ahead of when things were shared with the world?
This does not have to be games and can be anything you care to share.
For myself. Not so much. Been part of a few valuation and integration teams but nothing that anybody is likely to have heard of (small business buys another small business sort of thing, I being the computer knowing spanner chucker).
I might know when a company is about to go down the tubes if I am sitting internally but that is more because I can see the numbers. There are other tells you might want to look for (someone coming in and inspecting aka valuing all the fixtures and fittings, new staff not being hired to replace old ones, new management being brought in to restructure, refresh cycles of hardware being extended (though sometimes this is justified -- modern computers don't get out of date anywhere nearly as quick as they did back in the day, and your company cars might well have a longer lease and have not done as much distance), possibly some of the hardware and fixtures leaving, satellite offices being folded back into yours, no bonuses (even more so if the executives did not get one), no/reduced amenities (no lunches, holidays, events....), executives leaving one after the other, being pressed to be unusually aggressive in sales, research (competitor or & development) tasks drying up, you and any remaining team being given extra responsibilities of staff that left but with no title or commensurate pay increase... one or two of those might happen anyway as part of working in a big company but see a few too many of those over the course of a short period and start polishing that CV, getting skills if you want, and getting it out there -- they won't generally tell you until the last possible moment as it is in their favour. Being bought out is similar but has other things to watch for).
While not necessarily a stat or trend Shigeru Miyamoto's quite famous comment on Tetris illustrates another. When asked by Nintendo's president whether Tetris was any good he say yes, pressed further he replied that all the president's secretaries and accountants were playing it (games at the time being a rather more nerdy pursuit, not necessarily the domain of such people, especially not all of them).
https://gamesrelated.com/shigeru-miyamoto-weighs-in-on-tetris/
Do you know who the first American to learn of Stalin's death was? Johnny Cash (as in the legendary singer). He was working signals at the time and it is held he was first to know. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016...e-first-american-to-hear-about-stalins-death/ . You are also welcome for the points in the pub quiz at some point in the future.
Anyway probably best not to break a NDA but there are many of us here that sit in companies and government departments watching numbers roll by, analyse things of our own accord, have cameras in various places, shuffle things in warehouses and otherwise be in places where if you are paying attention you might see something before it becomes widely known.
For instance in the warehouse stuff did you see massive stockpiles of a new, or perhaps existing, product arrive and get shipped out quicker than you usually expect to see such things go. Normally such things in discussions around here are someone took a sneaky photograph of a palette of games or console boxes but bigger trends are another.
If you are on the computers you might see emails when fixing things (or be "aware" of everything).
If you are security you might have had to sign someone in that meant big changes were afoot.
Were you part of an advance team send to value things or work on a deal, or indeed one to negotiate it?
If you made a living slinging lead then were your boots on the ground rather ahead of when things were shared with the world?
This does not have to be games and can be anything you care to share.
For myself. Not so much. Been part of a few valuation and integration teams but nothing that anybody is likely to have heard of (small business buys another small business sort of thing, I being the computer knowing spanner chucker).
I might know when a company is about to go down the tubes if I am sitting internally but that is more because I can see the numbers. There are other tells you might want to look for (someone coming in and inspecting aka valuing all the fixtures and fittings, new staff not being hired to replace old ones, new management being brought in to restructure, refresh cycles of hardware being extended (though sometimes this is justified -- modern computers don't get out of date anywhere nearly as quick as they did back in the day, and your company cars might well have a longer lease and have not done as much distance), possibly some of the hardware and fixtures leaving, satellite offices being folded back into yours, no bonuses (even more so if the executives did not get one), no/reduced amenities (no lunches, holidays, events....), executives leaving one after the other, being pressed to be unusually aggressive in sales, research (competitor or & development) tasks drying up, you and any remaining team being given extra responsibilities of staff that left but with no title or commensurate pay increase... one or two of those might happen anyway as part of working in a big company but see a few too many of those over the course of a short period and start polishing that CV, getting skills if you want, and getting it out there -- they won't generally tell you until the last possible moment as it is in their favour. Being bought out is similar but has other things to watch for).
