I think they mean as a company they will make all that money back by then. Which MS makes a shit load of money every year so yeah.
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Microsoft announces purchase of Minecraft creator Mojang
- Thread starter Quentyn
- Start date
I think they mean as a company they will make all that money back by then. Which MS makes a shit load of money every year so yeah.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
Think this will prove to be a complete bargain.
Backlogger
Member
And its always in the top 1-3 paid apps on iOS. Been that way for a year at least.
so did naughty dog.
they went from platformers to 3rd person shooters.
the talent stayed there.
with mojang developers jumping out of the studio, minecraft won't be the same.
it remains to be seen though.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Mojang has no value to MS other than that they owned quite possibly the single most popular children's IP on the planet, Expect Mojang in 2 years to look nothing like it does now. Either they'll gut Mojang and turn it solely into a Minecraft 1 customer service support hub or they'll massively expand Mojang with their own people. Either way, I imagine the people making the next Minecraft will be mostly people who weren't involved with the original.
The cloud comment from MS, along with their desire to break even on the purchase so quickly confirms my suspicions that the next Minecraft game will basically be a MMORPG, probably of the freemium variety.
Microsoft as a whole will easily make that back in a year's time. I don't think they're looking at Minecraft to actually get that back that soon. As others have said, they have a bunch of money tied up overseas that they can't bring back into the states without being destroyed by the IRS so the purchase was most likely from those funds so it's not like it was a risky investment on their part.
FairXchange
Member
Well so far it sounds like they'll be supporting the PS4 version which was a concern of mine. Here's hoping in the interest of monetization they keep updating and releasing new games on multiple platforms.
Syphon Filter
Member
what is the point if it will still be on other platforms? i dont see how it will be an advantage for Microsoft at that price especially.
That they can make $2.5 billion dollars on Minecraft in just two years. That has to be the extent of their plan, because it's crazy.
They are insane.
Minecraft is pretty much the work of a single person (Notch). I wouldn't say anyone else at the studio had a lot of influence over the core game design.
The Shogun
Banned
Minecraft 2 is certainly happening. Now maybe it will be like you said a 2.0 update that drastically changes the game but if so you will have to pay for it.
Minecraft 1 already has massive sell through and retails for $20. You don't make back 2.5 billion continuing with that model.
Some form of "Minecraft 2" is definitely coming in my opinion.
Doug Heffernan
Member
There's no way they are are going to go out of their way to develop a game on a rival platform. The only reason the Playstation, iOS and Android versions are staying up is because they are already released. The future of the Minecraft franchise looks to be fully Microsoft exclusive. I doubt any further work will be done on the Playstation, iOS or Android versions outside of a small patch.
Considering Mojang made ~$130M last year, it should probably take about a bit more than a decade, probably about 15-17 years if they follow an "R" curve and profits eventually top out around $200M.
SkeptiMism
Member
Doesn't really matter in this case I'd say. It's not like they were some big driving force behind Minecraft since the game's launch. Well other than maybe in holding it down not having any big changes, or almost any changes actually, from happening.
I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion. There is plenty of good discussion going on here if you bother to actually see any posts instead of assuming that since it's an MS thread there's only MS haters in here. There's no need for you to defend MS where it doesn't need defending (seeing your post history too..).
Very possible it won't stay similar, because since its launch the game has hardly changed at all. Change isn't always bad however.
There's plenty of things in which the game could be made into better. At the moment mods do do that, but a lot of the stuff could be in the game itself.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
I'm guessing Minecraft 2 gets announced in the next 9 months. Maybe a feature film and cartoon series.
BlackBuzzard
Banned
DudeWithNoName
Member
I think it's the exact opposite. Microsoft wants and needs Minecraft on every platform possible. The sprawl of Minecraft on all of these platforms is exactly the reason it got big in the first place. I think we see a WiiU version incoming.
Omnipunctual Godot
Gold Member
As long as the Vita version is still coming, I'm perfectly okay with this. I may jump on the PS3+Vita->PS4 upgrade path.
Is there a NeoGAF community for the console versions of Minecraft? I'd like to buy it, but I don't know anyone else who has it.
Is there a NeoGAF community for the console versions of Minecraft? I'd like to buy it, but I don't know anyone else who has it.
NemesisPrime
Banned
It is...
cartoon_soldier
Member
Why do they need to break even in an year?
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
I guess you missed the part where they said they expect to break even within a year.
miDnIghtEr20C
Banned
Great purchase. This is so much more than just for Xbox.
The strategy is to monetize the Minecraft IP. Later this year LEGO Minecraft sets are releasing. If standard LEGO IP pricing is the basis they'll be getting close to $10 per each set sold. And they're gonna sell like crazy. Then there's the 55 million community. Microsoft has always wanted to get a huge piece of that Nintendo pie, attractive to families and smaller kids. Minecraft is just that. Minecraft will do what Viva Pinata, Kinect and Project Spark could not do. Minecraft is on every platform, every OS, everywhere. And now Microsoft is everywhere. The publicity that came with this deal is probably already worth some 100 million.
And I'm sure a Minecraft 2 is coming. The logical next step for this thing is to turn it into a massively multiplayer connected world. Have a huge world in the cloud and literally millions playing in it and rebuilding it.
Again, the expect to break even as a company. Not have the Minecraft IP alone make all that money back in a year. MS makes billions each year so yeah they will.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
...or how bout the other option:
This is a very unique opportunity to by one of the biggest cross-over brands in gaming. It doesn't need to fit any of the other strategies.. it's just a great opportunity to buy a brand that prints money and has cross-over appeal.
This is bigger and different than a standard studio acquisition.
ND was better at seeing the writing on the wall. Rare isn't the only studio who found the transition in the 2000's hard... look at all the studios that died. If MS didn't fund them.. Rare would have probably been gone by now.
Notch hasn't really had anything to do with day-to-day Minecraft in awhile.
Son, Minecraft is money.
gamechanger87
Member
Beyond the tax benefits of not having to repatriate the cash, they will likely benefit from a huge step up in the tax basis of the business. The significant amount of intangibles generated by this transaction will be amortized over the next 15 years enabling MS to reduce its Taxable Income. This shield, combined with the benefit of not having to repatriate the cash significantly lowers the breakeven threshold. Adding in the revenue on top is icing on the cake.
For those wondering how things like this can happen, you need to understand that GAAP is an odd beast and there are a lot of ways you can structure a transaction to make it neutral. GAAP is not CASH. They are not going to be breakeven on this within the year. However, on a GAAP basis they are likely in a good spot and this is a much better use of their International cash than anything they looked at.
Death Metalist
Member
Well, I don't know what to be excited about honestly, the fact that I'm not into Minecraft that much or the fact that whenever MS buys a company it has a chance of going to shit so I guess i'll just wait and see but damn, 2.5B is too much for a company that made one game only. Especially when it already peaked!
moltonasty
Member
Wow now Wii U is really never getting Minecraft lol...ouch.
Yeah, mojang works slowly in this instance
MS will port this thing to everything they can.
Windows phones, Wii-U, WinRT, Steam.
Then followed by Minecraft 2 on all platforms.
The value in this deal is locking players into Xbox/Microsoft accounts within Minecraft. The new CEO is a services guy and is much more willing to embrace competing platforms. I'm guessing before the end of FY2015 we will see some sort of XBL account integration within Minecraft. Xbox Live is going to become a cross platform social network of sorts IMO.
Cornbread78
Member
This was the official word:
- The bolded is the important part of that statment. Basically, they are saying, yeah, we will support what's out there, but it's up to the other companies if they want to pay up or abide by our new rules and regulations of the game; it's their "choice"...
They will continue to support it, but there will be a cost, a very high cost. Thsi way, if Sony cannot continue to pay the fees, they can say it's Sony's fault. It's a win/win for MS as they can say we were being the nice guy and Sony just didn't want to help their customers get the add-ons or get the game fixed. MS is in complete control of it andeverything around it now. Sony and Apple especially are going to be payign through the teeth to keep the support there, but once it breaks, it will probably stay broken unless they pay up big time.
- The bolded is the important part of that statment. Basically, they are saying, yeah, we will support what's out there, but it's up to the other companies if they want to pay up or abide by our new rules and regulations of the game; it's their "choice"...
They will continue to support it, but there will be a cost, a very high cost. Thsi way, if Sony cannot continue to pay the fees, they can say it's Sony's fault. It's a win/win for MS as they can say we were being the nice guy and Sony just didn't want to help their customers get the add-ons or get the game fixed. MS is in complete control of it andeverything around it now. Sony and Apple especially are going to be payign through the teeth to keep the support there, but once it breaks, it will probably stay broken unless they pay up big time.
While I thinks it's a smart move of Microsoft to continue support for all platforms, seeing they get the most money out of this that way, (and I can get Vita version!)
I can't help but wonder what Microsoft will get out of this... I suppose just more money in the long term? I guess this isn't a move to increase the appeal of Xbox/MS Platforms, though I think I can see them doing something special for Xbox versions...even if it's only releasing xbox versions first. I hope this move means the console versions get closer to the PC version anyway in terms of updates.
Phil gets to have a diabolical laugh as kids sign into their Xbox Live accounts on their PS4s...
s74rshaped
Member
Notch stopped caring about Minecraft the second it started making serious money. If this means competent developers get a chance to make a sequel then good.
Kinky John
Member
lol
Midnight Believer
Member
This is where notch first posted about Minecraft ,its cool reading back now http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=6273.0
rokkerkory
Member
Good job MS. Now make MC even better and do release on all platforms.
The Shogun
Banned
I'll be honest when I originally heard plans for this deal I thought it was insane and a horrible purchase for MS.
After looking more at the numbers though I really think this could be a great financial decision for MS. Now that doesn't mean everything is sugar and rainbows. They have to execute this thing correctly and with insane expectations and a much beloved brand that will be difficult. But if they manage to pull it off the return on investment could be huge.
After looking more at the numbers though I really think this could be a great financial decision for MS. Now that doesn't mean everything is sugar and rainbows. They have to execute this thing correctly and with insane expectations and a much beloved brand that will be difficult. But if they manage to pull it off the return on investment could be huge.
Why are you listing DirectX as a negative? The current engine is shit.
SteveO1683
Member
They really need to get a MC themed Vita to help get some hardware sales going. I'd probably buy one for my daughter who has recently become obsessed with the game.