Episode 484: Letters!

This week’s podcast was delayed in publishing thanks to the holiday week being more hectic than usual. However, better late than never, and there’s even some listener feedback included!

The news items include:

  • Valkyria Chronicles 4 is mobilizing for deployment in the west in 2018
  • Clicker Heroes 2 developer abandons microtransaction model citing ethical concerns
  • Rainbow Six Siege is getting a high-tech ninja named Vigil
  • Minecraft is adding tridents, shipwrecks, dolphins and coral reefs in Spring 2018

Let us know what you think.

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The news includes:

  • Valve adds temporary fix for fake item scams on Steam
  • Halo devs not working on Battle Royale mode for Infinite
  • Nintendo Switch sales near 20m, down slightly on last year
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Let us know what you think.

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The news includes:

  • Stardew Valley‘s 1.6 update is finally live
  • Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection gets first patch following troubled launch
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Let us know what you think.

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If you’ve ever been through an acquisition or merger you’d have expected this news to come, but for those new to the concept it’s simple: you can’t keep everyone. After a complete merger you end up with two sales departments, two IT departments, etc.

Do you really need them all? No, not really. You’ll need to keep some on board in order to “brain dump” your job onto others and hopefully stick around for the long hall. Some employees will probably be shuffled to other job responsibilities while some get packages and a thank you card.

These are some of the growing pains when working towards a successful merger, so don’t be surprised or start spreading rumors when a few people are let go. As someone who’s gone through it in two big mergers I can say that certain departments already know their fate ahead of time. Many IT and sales folk start looking for new jobs the minute the merger is announced.