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Activision and EA tried to buy Minecraft

J

John Bender

Banned
Activision and EA Tried To Buy Minecraft

Fascinating new report also reveals Markus "Notch" Persson's new game development company and lots more.

An excellent new story from Forbes dives into the post-Minecraft life of the game's creator Markus "Notch" Persson and also reveals new details about how it wasn't just Microsoft that came knocking at Mojang's door to buy the hit franchise.

Forbes reports that Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, among others, also came forward, expressing interest in pursuing a deal. Discussions with Activision "petered out," the report says. Persson wouldn't talk specifics about what happened with EA, a company he has been critical of in the past. But he did say that Mojang ruled out would-be buyers "who did gameplay in a way we didn't like."

Microsoft's 2.5 billion offer, however, proved to be the most alluring. Sale terms included Mojang's three founders getting a "clean break" from the company and the promise that there would be no layoffs at Mojang. Forbes notes that with only 47 total Mojang employees, layoffs were unlikely to happen anyway.
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Full arcticle here
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Don't know why I read the thread as EA and Acti tried to buy each other. Still makes sense the two biggest western dev/pubs would try to buy mine craft.
 
Harlock

Harlock

Member
There are much more interesting things in this Forbes article. Notch personal life is very complicated.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
Raide said:
Glad MS got it. Either of those 2 would have been horrible.
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Can you imagine the annual iterations of Minecraft we'd have had under Activision? The franchise would have been milked to death in the most horrendous ways imaginable. Yes, a close shave.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
I doubt a lot of what is in that article.
I imagine it just came down to Money.

MS was willing to pay a lot more because it's a trophy franchise that means a lot more to them than just straight profitability.

EA and Activison are in it for the profits.
 
Compsiox

Compsiox

Banned
Percy said:
Yeah, EA and Activision are notorious for buying up studios only to destroy them later, whereas Microsoft... uh...
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Microsoft isn't notorious for it. What Rare? I feel like they only purchased it to take away from the competition
 
D

Derpyduck

Banned
DarthWalden said:
Microsoft seems to be the lesser of the three evils in this case.
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As long as they keep their word on continuing to support all platforms. If they don't, I'll be mad, but I'll also understand why. They spent the money, it's their franchise to do what they want with.
 
K

kiguel182

Member
That's like the least interesting thing about that article.

It was a great read. It seems like he still hasn't figured out what he wants to do but hey, if he is having fun in the mean time then more power to him.
 
R

Raide

Member
CozMick said:
You and I see Microsoft in a completely different light from each other.

MS are gonna milk the living shit out of this franchise, just as the other 2 would.
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If MS keep bring out Minecraft on new systems, I have no problems.

Activision and EA would have this shit in Skylanders and microtransaction DLC card-packs. They would make it and leave fundamental parts of the game out in the name of progress and then hype everyone up by saying it would be in the sequel. Both have pretty poor community interaction, which is pretty important to Minecraft.
 
P

protomouse

Member
Percy said:
Yeah, EA and Activision are notorious for buying up studios only to destroy them later, whereas Microsoft... uh...
Click to expand...

How many studios have Microsoft destroyed again? One would expect such claims to be substantiated with concrete examples.
 
S

SliceSabre

Banned
Nice to see they were concerned about the wellbeing of the people they would be leaving behind and that the company would be in good hands.
 
Z

zephervack

Member
God damn at the Forbes article, everyone should read it.

He sounds like he doesnt care about the sucess and its just enjoying life, he set himself an "adult day care" office where he just hangs out to read reddit and twitter lol.
 
N

neogaffer1

Banned
People seem to think in this thread that Microsoft is just as bad as EA or Activision. I don't know how they convince themselves of that other than blind fanboyism. EA has steadfastly continued to be awful in easily fixable ways despite incredibly strong consumer backlash and Activision has driven every single franchise they've had straight into the ground through yearly releases. Microsoft releases new Halo games and the like often, but not as often as Activision, and even if they've done some microtransaction in the past it's never been anywhere near the money-grubbing level as EA, and when faced with strong consumer backlash, Microsoft turned around to appease consumers.
 
gaming_noob

gaming_noob

Member
CozMick said:
You and I see Microsoft in a completely different light from each other.

MS are gonna milk the living shit out of this franchise, just as the other 2 would.
Click to expand...

If the demand is there then they're going to milk it. That's how it works. Hate the game, not the player lol
 
W

Wereroku

Member
Raide said:
If MS keep bring out Minecraft on new systems, I have no problems.

Activision and EA would have this shit in Skylanders and microtransaction DLC card-packs. They would make it and leave fundamental parts of the game out in the name of progress and then hype everyone up by saying it would be in the sequel. Both have pretty poor community interaction, which is pretty important to Minecraft.
Click to expand...

For Sony platforms Acti/EA would have been better. I think it came down to the amount of money MS offered more than anything.

neogaffer1 said:
People seem to think in this thread that Microsoft is just as bad as EA or Activision. I don't know how they convince themselves of that other than blind fanboyism. EA has steadfastly continued to be awful in easily fixable ways despite incredibly strong consumer backlash and Activision has driven every single franchise they've had straight into the ground through yearly releases. Microsoft releases new Halo games and the like often, but not as often as Activision, and even if they've done some microtransaction in the past it's never been anywhere near the money-grubbing level as EA, and when faced with strong consumer backlash, Microsoft turned around to appease consumers.
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Again for anyone on a non MS platform MS is worse than either Acti or EA.
 
M

Montresor

Member
Wereroku said:
For Sony platforms Acti/EA would have been better. I think it came down to the amount of money MS offered more than anything.
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How come? There are no plans to stop Vita/PS3/PS4 Minecraft releases, as far as I know.

Doesn't Minecraft PS4 have Sony-centric exclusive themes? And I'm sure Telltale's new Minecraft game will be on Sony systems too. So what's the issue?
 
C

Chris1

Member
Thanks MS for saving us.

Edit: I seriously doubt Minecraft will go exclusive... Maybe Minecraft 2 gets a timed exclusive on MS platforms but thats where it will end, I'll be shocked if it's perm exclusive. There's far, far, far too much money to be left on the table restricting it to MS platforms.
 
D

Dragonborn

Member
Percy said:
Yeah, EA and Activision are notorious for buying up studios only to destroy them later, whereas Microsoft... uh...
Click to expand...

Indeed, MS is right there at the bottom with the other two when it comes to this kind of stuff but as someone else said one could argue they're the least bad. Not that it really means much
 
F

Fox318

Member
CozMick said:
You and I see Microsoft in a completely different light from each other.

MS are gonna milk the living shit out of this franchise, just as the other 2 would.
Click to expand...

Except unlike those two they will try and make sure it lasts as a property.

Activision would rather flood the market with plastic shit and then move on to the next big thing.

Minecraft will be a property for years under microsoft.
 
W

Wereroku

Member
Montresor said:
How come? There are no plans to stop Vita/PS3/PS4 Minecraft releases, as far as I know.

Doesn't Minecraft PS4 have Sony-centric exclusive themes? And I'm sure Telltale's new Minecraft game will be on Sony systems too. So what's the issue?
Click to expand...

Microsoft has to continue on with current contracts that Mojang already had. If there is a time limit on them they will not be renewed. As we have already seen some skins are not coming to Sony consoles.

Fox318 said:
Except unlike those two they will try and make sure it lasts as a property.

Activision would rather flood the market with plastic shit and then move on to the next big thing.

Minecraft will be a property for years under microsoft.
Click to expand...

What? Have you not seen all the plastic minecraft shit that had already flooded the market. That didn't need Acti or MS Mojang had already done it themselves and were making good money on it.
 
D

Dragonborn

Member
Fox318 said:
Except unlike those two they will try and make sure it lasts as a property.

Activision would rather flood the market with plastic shit and then move on to the next big thing.

Minecraft will be a property for years under microsoft.
Click to expand...

Just like Forza which they milk yearly, or Halo which is a shadow of its former self, or Fable which is.....yea....or Rare which they've run into the ground, or ensemble. ...yea, I disagree
 
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