They need to stick to their word and keep supporting it on all platforms.
A fear of success like this so clearly on display is not a good thing, especially under the naive belief everything can go back to how it was and he can have "twitter opinions" again like he pines for in his letter.
Just noticed they omitted that too... Could've been accidental. Everyone forgets about Linux.
GAAP is a finicky beast. There are a lot of ways you can move stuff around to make something neutral.
This is more of a cash play by MS. They have around $90B in cash trapped overseas, and they can't figure out the best way to use it. They don't want to repatriate it and get pummeled with tax (like Apple) so they would like to invest it outside of the country if possible. Mojang is based out of Sweden, and this investment lets them use this cash to acquire Mojang.
lol Those are some Square Enix level of expectations there. Unless they mean overall earnings will make up for the purchase and not only revenue from the actual mojang deal.
What is GAAP btw?
Ill keep saying this. The only way this acquisition makes any sense is if minecraft is going to be grown into a gaming platform far bigger than any gaaming franchise before it.
They didnt spend 2.5 billion to sell a couple million more Xbox ones. Its way way way bigger than that.
Should have bought Respawn instead.
People keep making these posts as if Notch himself or Mojang is worth anything to MS. They're not. Microsoft is buying a brand and an audience, and even Minecraft as it exists right now is just a bonus. I'd bet real money that MS would have payed the exact amount for the IP rights alone, but Notch clearly wanted to be rid of the whole thing, and that includes Mojang.
Thats how you make deals if you are original crew!So they bought Mojang, but the original crew is leaving?
What does this line mean? After mentioning it's staying on all platforms.
Thats how you make deals if you are original crew!
It will still be available.
Read carefully and they said nothing about future on going support.
Rare made game's in dying genres. Plain and simple.
I wonder how long Minecraft will continue to be a thing.
You are the one not looking hard enough. Microsoft doesnt want a mario, it wants something even bigger than Angry birds.
Minecraft is going to Microsofts Mickey mouse.
Dreaming? It makes perfect sense from their perspective. They'll use Minecraft to be the trojan horse that TV TV TV never could be.
Because they are competitors. Minecraft on Playstation benefits Microsoft more than it does Sony. Take that away and it's millions of potential sales lost.
They should grab Remedy next, then.
It's a java game. As long as it's a java game, it can run on Linux. (Note: I didn't say will though.)
Notably, Microsoft says that it expects the acquisition "to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis." In other words, Microsoft believes it will make back what it has spent on Mojang and Minecraft by the end of this fiscal year (next June).
Lego seems to be doing just fine after all these years.
Just noticed they omitted that too... Could've been accidental. Everyone forgets about Linux.
So they bought Mojang, but the original crew is leaving?
Can someone explain in short what value Mojang has that would justify such an astronomical buyout ?
What's the strategy ?
Angry Birds' profits are down 50% year over year and has only been established for a few years. They are a decaying brand. Meanwhile, Mario was a name synonymous with gaming for over 20 years, and has proven to have a much higher staying power. Microsoft would easily prefer the next Mario vs the flash in the pan Angry Birds.
Don't underestimate the name. It is almost universally recognized. With actual marketing you can create something big.I agree, I just question if they'll get the audience. They could have make a new game that blows Minecraft out of the water from a feature standpoint for 1% of what they're paying. If people wouldn't have bought that, will they buy Minecraft 2 from Microsoft?
Can someone explain in short what value Mojang has that would justify such an astronomical buyout ?
What's the strategy ?
So they bought Mojang, but the original crew is leaving?
I'm just not seeing $2.5B of value here, but it wouldn't be the first time MS pay way too much for something.
Possibly a very dumb move from MS too. 2.5 billion is a lot of money to make back.
This picture made me realise something. This deal pretty much confirms that Nintendo platforms will never get Minecraft at all. I mean yeah they wont pull existing versions or the almost done Vita version, but there's no way another version of Minecraft for a competing system will ever come out from now on.
Mojang has almost no value. The absurd pricetag is for Minecraft brand, which is a global franchise at this point.
I wanna hear their strategy on this one.
How can they break-even in one year's time? Mojang doesn't make 2.5 billion per year ... the maths doesn't make sense. Even if it did, why sell it for only a year's worth of revenue?
They get revenue from every copy sold going forward. The game hasn't stopped selling, it was #3 overall in August NPD and it's still in the top of the PAL charts. That's not even counting the PC and mobile revenue, or merchandise revenue (which could be a lot higher than any of us imagine, I don't believe that Mojang was a public company before now).
How can they break-even in one year's time? Mojang doesn't make 2.5 billion per year ... the maths doesn't make sense. Even if it did, why sell it for only a year's worth of revenue?
Dreaming? It makes perfect sense from their perspective. They'll use Minecraft to be the trojan horse that TV TV TV never could be.